We all yearn for relief from inner turmoil.

Certainly Safia Taleb-Al-Suhail’s does. Her father was murdered eleven years ago by Saddam Hussein’s intelligence service. When President Bush introduced her during his State of the Union speech last night, she held up her purple index finger to show the world she had overcome her fear to vote last Sunday in Iraq. Just recalling her participation in selecting a new government for her native country put both a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

She received a standing ovation.

Most Americans feel that as long as there are people like Safia who have suffered unjustly under a tyrant or who are misruled and have no future, the American promise is unfulfilled. Critics of this sentiment believe this is nationalistic arrogance. Adherents consider this compassion.

When Safia took her seat and President Bush resumed his speech, few could have foretold the dramatic event that was about to unfold.

President Bush then introduced Bill and Janet Norwood. Their son Byron was killed by sniper fire during the US assault on insurgents in Falluja last November. It is often said there is no greater loss than the death of a child. One look into the Norwood’s eyes reveals this truth.

Again, all stood to applaud the Norwoods. It is an awkward thing to do, applauding tragedy. It seems so superficial and inadequate, even inappropriate. But then, how do we convey to these suffering souls our desire to stand with them in their time of unbearable anguish?

Then it happened.

Safia, who had never met the Norwoods until moments before taking her seat in front of them, turned and embraced Janet. It was as though they were the only two people in the crowd filled chamber. Certainly they understood each other more deeply than any of us could; one losing a son, the other a father, to the hope that Iraq’s future will justify such unthinkable sacrifice.

This morning on "Good Morning America", Dianne Sawyer asked Safia if the embrace was staged. Have we really become this jaded and cynical that political calculus overshadows even the purest expressions of human decency? Does Ms. Sawyer really think this could be staged, or that these two women would belittle themselves and the memory of their loved ones with such contrivance?

Instead, their embrace was a moment of pure redemptive grace that leads to emotional catharsis.

Catharsis is a psychological concept that has launched a thousand therapies and most art. If pressed, the simplest definition would be healing through expression. Aristotle used the word catharsis (from katharos meaning to purge) to explain the ritual function of Greek tragedy that allows the spectator to purge their own emotions of pity and terror as vicarious participants in the drama.

Freud used catharsis to name what takes place when a patient relieves anxiety by expressing emotions.

We all know what this feels like.

Inner torment can build within us, yet there never seems the right time or place to let it out. The torment may come from silly things, such as petty rudeness by a spouse, to true human tragedy, like the death of a spouse. In the case of silly things, once we’ve ‘said our piece’ we sometimes have a good cry and begin rebuilding any damage done. In the case of the death of a spouse, catharsis is essential to rebuilding a life.

Christians often experience catharsis during conversion, confession, and worship.

Therapists, counselors, and spiritual healers seek to establish an environment where such expression and rebuilding can take place. Even the most skilled find this incredibly challenging.

Yet there we were, 50 million viewers, honored to share with Safia and Janet their long embrace of healing and restoration.

Now we pray for the families of the America military devastated by this war, and all Iraqis who have suffered, that countless episodes of such healing and restoration will help rebuild their lives.

Odd couple make friends in Kenya

A baby hippo rescued after floods in Kenya last week has befriended a 100-year-old tortoise in Kenya. The one-year-old hippo calf christened Owen was found alone and dehydrated by wildlife rangers near the Indian Ocean.

He was placed in an enclosure at a wildlife sanctuary in the coastal city of Mombasa and befriended a male tortoise of a similar colour.

According to a park official, they sleep together, eat together and "have become inseparable".

"Since Owen arrived on the 27 December, the tortoise behaves like a mother to it," Haller Park tourism manager Pauline Kimoti told the BBC News website.

"The hippo follows the tortoise around and licks his face," she said.

BBC

Believers across the globe pray for healing as Pope John Paul II is hospitalized this week for flu symptoms

The appointment of Karol Wojtyla as the first Polish pope in 1978 was seen as a groundbreaking move for the Roman Catholic Church.

The first non-Italian pope in 455 years - and at 58, the youngest pope of the 20th Century - he was little known outside Vatican circles. Few experts tipped him as successor to Pope John Paul, who died after only 33 days in office.

John Paul II is now in the 27th year of his pontificate which makes him almost the longest-reigning pope in history.

The Pope - the leader of the world's estimated one billion Catholics - has visited more than 100 countries, and is estimated to have effectively circled the globe 27 times.

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