The thing of beauty the Manchester bombing couldn’t destroy
Chris Parker, who rushed to help victims of the Manchester terror attack. Picture: Sonya Duncan/Jessica Parker - Credit: Sonya Duncan
Opinion: If the Manchester bombings teach us anything, it's that the beauty of the human spirit will always triumph over evil, says Rachel Moore
Two homeless men ran to the aid of victims of the Manchester bombing.
One cradled a dying woman in his arms. The other tended a seriously-injured girl peppered with nails and shards.
Neither thought twice about walking into danger and putting others before themselves.
They couldn't have lived with themselves if they hadn't stepped in, they said. They would have wanted people to help them.
They spoke without irony, after tens of thousands of people would have walked past these two men, freezing as they slept in doorways, looking the other way.
No one had helped them. It wasn't their problem and they could easily turn the other cheek.
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Turning the other cheek wasn't an option for these two men who had nothing when the bomb went off. They demonstrated a humanity and decency that only a tragedy brings out.
Later, in hospitals, adults insisted children were treated first.
Manchester people opened their homes and taxi drivers worked for free ensuring people get home safely.
Doctors and nurses rushed to work when they weren't on duty.
A community came together.
It was a day of atrocity and horror, but also one of ultimate beauty of the human spirit, of kindness, humanity and selflessness, which are the real messages on which to rebuild.
