Kayla Mueller was a deeply spiritual woman who's extreme compassion for the suffering of others compelled her to put aside all her own fears, and at great risk to herself, do something to alleviate that suffering. Who vowed, "For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal." Eryn Street, a friend of Mueller's, said empathy was Mueller's greatest strength. She found that empathy in God. “I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how You are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek You.” — Kayla Mueller, 2011
Who would not be moved when seeing something like this:
When I read a post from about the death of Kayla Mueller, from one of my friends who knew her, it moved me to the core and broke my heart. The news also broke the heart of the President of the United states, who said "My immediate reaction was heartbreak. She was an outstanding young woman, and a great spirit." - Barack Obama
Kayla Jean Mueller, a 26-year-old American aid worker kidnapped by ISIS in 2013, is dead, the White House and her family confirmed on Tuesday. Reports of Mueller's death began circulating last week after ISIS-affiliated Twitter accounts and websites said she was killed in Jordanian airstrikes on Friday.
“We're heartbroken to share we’ve received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life," her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, said in a statement.
"It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I convey our deepest condolences to Kayla’s family –- her parents, Marsha and Carl, and her brother Eric and his family –- and all of those who loved Kayla dearly. At this time of unimaginable suffering, the country shares in their grief."
Mueller had been held by the militant group for more than a year after she was abducted in August 2013 while serving on a humanitarian mission in the region, according to ABC News, citing a family spokesperson. She worked with the international humanitarian agency Support to Life providing aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey. She was returning from a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facility in Aleppo, Syria, at the time of her abduction.
The group issued a statement on Friday, saying Mueller had not been working for the group but had accompanied a technician contracted to do repairs on a MSF building the day before she disappeared. The repair took longer than planned and Mueller stayed overnight in Aleppo.
Mueller was kidnapped during the drive to the bus station.
She wrote this letter while in captivity
Everyone, If you are receiving this letter it means I am still detained but my cell mates (starting from 11/2/2014) have been released.
I have asked them to contact you + send you this letter. It’s hard to know what to say. Please know that I am in a safe location, completely unharmed + healthy (put on weight in fact); I have been treated w/ the utmost respect + kindness.
I wanted to write you all a well thought out letter (but I didn’t know if my cell mates would be leaving in the coming days or the coming months restricting my time but primarily) I could only but write the letter a paragraph at a time, just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears.
If you could say I have “suffered” at all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through; I will never ask you to forgive me as I do not deserve forgiveness.
I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else … + by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.
I have been shown in darkness, light + have learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful. I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it.
I pray each each day that if nothing else, you have felt a certain closeness + surrender to God as well + have formed a bond of love + support amongst one another … I miss you all as if it has been a decade of forced separation.
I have had many a long hour to think, to think of all the things I will do w/ Lex, our first family camping trip, the first meeting @ the airport. I have had many hours to think how only in your absence have I finally @ 25 years old come to realize your place in my life. The gift that is each one of you + the person I could + could not be if you were not a part of my life, my family, my support.
I DO NOT want the negotiations for my release to be your duty, if there is any other option take it, even if it takes more time. This should never have become your burden.
I have asked these women to support you; please seek their advice. If you have not done so already, [REDACTED] can contact [REDACTED] who may have a certain level of experience with these people.
None of us could have known it would be this long but know I am also fighting from my side in the ways I am able + I have a lot of fight left inside of me.
I am not breaking down + I will not give in no matter how long it takes. I wrote a song some months ago that says, “The part of me that pains the most also gets me out of bed, w/out your hope there would be nothing left …”
aka-The thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength.
Please be patient, give your pain to God. I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I + by God’s will we will be together soon.
All my everything, KaylaThis woman was a saint, and a martyr. "Matryr" has negative connotations in this day and age, but the dictionary definition of the term is as follows:
2. a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause: a martyr to the cause of social justice.
She was fearless in the face of danger and did not hesitate to help those who were suffering and even reached out to her captors by attempting to teach them origami. Her letter reminds me of another Vaisnava saint, Haridas Thakura, who while in prison, preached to his fellow inmates. Please click here to view a children's cartoon of that pastime.
She showed her attitude of surrender to her God, (Krishna), as she wrote,
I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else … + by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.
This is the conclusion and essence of Krishna's instruction in the Bhagavad-gita 18.66
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear."
The Rev. Kathleen Day, who leads Northern Arizona University student groups once attended by Muller, said she followed the 26-year-old's journey in Syria via social media.
"I would read her posts and it was really like keeping vigil because it was so difficult to read about the horror that was happening," she said.
Day said Mueller was doing simple things to help Syrians -- whether it was buying clothes or helping refugees find a home.
"What was so extraordinary about (Mueller) was she did ordinary things to extraordinary measures," she said.
According to one of her Hare Krishna devotee friends, Dasarath Pandit who met her in Arizona, she derived this empathy from deep spiritual understanding attained by her practice of Maha-Mantra meditation and study of the Bhagavad-gita attending his programs that he held on a regular basis. It was Dasarath who inspired her to go to India and work with orphans at the Sandipani School in Vrindaban, India, where her worshipful Lord Krishna took birth on this planet 5000 years ago for two years after she graduated from college.
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| Kayla at Sandipani School |
Just how the Maha Mantra can awaken compassion and empathy is explained by His Holiness Niranjana Swami gives lecture during Sunday Program at ISKCON Boston Temple on December 19, 2010.
