Tears On The Sand - Softcover

Over the years during which my medical missions had taken me deep into the remote areas of Pakistan, I have found myself falling in love with the people. Most of them live their lives in much the same way as had their ancestors for millennia. Their needs are simple, their possessions few, and their lives unimaginably hard, yet they remain charming and humble. But I quickly learned something very important about them. Whereas they tend to welcome trusted friends with the same warmth one would expect to be limited to close family, they are also quick to violence when faced with a threat. It has taken me years to convince them that I am no threat to them, but rather, a friend. I did not win their trust with words; they have heard too many words from the Americans, and have seen that Americans actions rarely mirrored the kindness that the words had promised. I am a surgeon, and have made my statements by traveling to the poorest villages and treating people who have probably never seen a physician before. Over the years, I have performed surgery on thousands of children who had been born with terrible birth defects, or who had been maimed by the violence that has long defined life in the region. In time, these people began referring to me as Dr. Angel, and I have to admit that I take more pride in that title than from any of the other accolades I have ever received. As I treated and was befriended by these people, I couldn't help but wonder at the seeming paradox that Osama bin Laden represented. To many, he was viewed as the human incarnation of evil, a killer of thousands, and a fanatic who took great joy in the spilling of innocent blood, including that of his own people. And yet, to the people of these villages, he was a saint and a savior, sent to protect them from the very kind of evil he represented to the West. The more familiar I became with the villagers and physicians with whom I worked, the more intent I became on meeting with bin Laden, face to face, to learn for myself what drove this monster/saint, and to discover the source of the power he wielded, not only in this remote region, but throughout the world. My efforts to find and meet with bin Laden took patience - over and over again, I was reminded of the truth of the admonition: When you go looking for Osama Bin Laden, you don't find him. He finds you. I was ultimately to learn the answer to the paradox, and to sit with and get to know the man who personified both evil and salvation to so many people, with our final meeting ending mere moments before the Sheik's death. This book is my story, but also the story of a nation's suffering, of unimaginable violence, and of the man who was for years the personification of the conflict between the West and the Middle East.