Bnaya Peretz, fatally wounded in a terrorist attack, is everyone’s hero.
Not only because he is a terror victim. Not only because he is alive after the medical team almost gave up on him, but because he lives life to fullest. He is our hero because he was not willing to despair and was not willing to accept the bleak prophecies which surrounded him. Bnaya, with the help of his admirable parents and professional rehabilitation teams, worked on a daily basis to improve his capabilities one more little step after another.
Bnaya today is not the helpless, paralyzed from the neck down boy who I met when he was transferred to the rehabilitation center. I got a call from a mutual friend asking: “The critically wounded boy form the terrorist attack was transferred to rehab and was told that he will never walk. You were told the same, and yet you walk today. Will you be willing to go there and encourage him? Will you please show him that there is hope?”
Long term rehab support, based on personal experience.
Next to his bed were his parents and a few friends. They all believed that “all will be well and good”, all keeping a high moral, but how were they going to achieve this goal? For that they had no answer. I visited them every week and continue meeting them till this very day. I would listen, encourage, answer questions, and offer another small thing that Bnaya could do. One more action that his parents could contribute to his recovery.
His mother would collect the smallest sensory improvements, the almost invisible movements, and tell me about them in our weekly meeting. His father shared the mood swings and emotions that both father and son had to deal with in the passing week. Bnaya himself, shy and introverted, absorbed everything I said, and acted upon my advice, even when it was hard for him and against his tendencies. Everyone was highly motivated and willing to work hard. They advanced, determined not to fall to despair, in the rehab process of Bnaya and his family.
Why do i believe Bnaya Peretz?
This week, after raising money for a unique surgery to help Bnaya walk, Bnaya promised the nation that he will not let them down. I know that this will be so, and not because Bnaya is a magician or a prophet. He will walk because he has already completed the steepest part of his climb from paralysis from the neck down, to the ability to move his arms and even shake the hand of the prime minister of the state of Israel.
Bnaya is everyone’s hero because he shows us that we can all be heroes. We do not have a choice about what happens to us, but we do have a choice as to what we do with it. Even from within a black hole, one can chose to see the light.
So, what do you chose? – A black hope or a miracle?
