Taken on Trust

This book caught my eye... What must it feel like to be captured by terrorists ? Or to be held in solitary confinement, day in day out not knowing when the situation will end ? This is not just a narrative to pick up because the news is full of hostages's lives being bargained with, in Iraq. It is also relevant because it shows how denying anybody access to the outside world when they are imprisoned, is an unacceptably inhumane way to treat another human being. Terry Waite began this book in his head - whilst coping with solitary confinement in Lebanon in the 1980's. The title is important: he was taken whilst trusting his negotiators to bring him, as a representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to meet the hostages they were already holding. Don't therefore presume this book has a religious theme. It really doesn't push that. This book is important to read because you find yourself living the life of a particular hostage. You are with Terry as he is led, blindfold, from one hiding place to the next. You get pushed & fed like him, and humiliated by those imposed hand showers and the delayed toilet visits. Your eyes follow his as he studies with eager curiosity the feet passing by under his door and wonders who else is being led to that same toilet.. Shoved into a refrigerator for one departure, he panicks and you fall with him as he is bounced down, step after step to the street outside, scrambling inside to untie his hands to protect himself. And so the months go by. You sit cross legged beside him, eyes covered by a similar blindfold, feeling those empty minutes and hours pass with no pen, no paper, no conversation and a constant nagging fear that the next change in the schedule might bring pain. It makes the moments of fleeting kindnesses from the guards very special, and you become as excited as Terry is when at last he is given books. Though time may drag by for him, he keeps the reader from being bored by separating out his narrative into descriptive paragraphs of his childhood and then his rise in job opportunities until he travels around the world as an important layman emissary assigned at different times to both the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church (consulting for the Medical Mission Sisters). His descriptions of Africa are particularly interesting. With much negotiating experience behind him, this brought him to that moment of trying to negotiate the release of those hostages taken in the Lebanese conflict. So just how do you remain mentally and physically strong for day after day when there is the loss of proper sunlight, minimal exercise and conversation ? Terry describes the basic methods he used to preserve his sanity and body. But how do you deal with the despair (and anger) which overwhelms you when hearing that hammer knocking in a position once again for your leg chain at the new hiding place? I particularly admire a person who writes so honestly about facing his own weaknesses which surface, and w

I have recently finished listening to Terry Waite's story on audio tape. Waite himself read his story. His story is one of those that I will never forget hearing. The absolute deprivation that he and the other hostages faced during those years is impossible to comprehend. I realize now that so many of us take our lives and our faith for granted. His faith was put completely to the test over those five years. It struck me how he repeatedly stated that his sufferings were nothing compared to the suffering that Jesus endured. Although most of us will never be called to suffer in chains as he and so many others have, it is painfully clear that we must always pray for those that do. I think that all people who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior should read "Taken on Trust."

I picked this up at the library because i remember very clearly when Waite was captured and held hostage. What a story. I found myself moved almost to tears by the end, as i thought of Waite and the three other hostages he ended up with, not to mention the many others who were held in Lebanon during the same time. Parenthetically, i do not know what it is that causes me to cry nowadays; is it a function of age? of some increased sensibilities? of a new maturity? Whatever the cause, i now find tears coming to me more and more frequently as i read or see a movie or, even, just think. End diversion. As i read i did wish that the tale was a little less disjointed. I know why it is, and i accept the reasoning behind it; i simply feel that the story was more confusing than it need be. Perhaps if the present (being held in Beirut) had been in a different type-face...? I don't know. Nevertheless, the literary merit of the book is hardly the purpose for reading it. As the story of a man held for almost five years, four of them, i think, alone, this is remarkable. Not once do you get the feeling that Waite is whining (and why shouldn't he? When he first saw his son again after the captivity he saw "a young man I assumed was Mark"), as was the case of the other book i read from the same experience (was it Terry Anderson? i don't remember). One is filled with respect for Waite and the forbearance he shows his captors; i want to reach out and slap them silly, ask them how they could treat a human being in such a way. But he forgives them. How many men could do that? Apparently this servant of God and the Church is one.

I read this book straight after reading Nelson Mandela's 'Long Walk To Freedom'. Though not written in the same style, the description of conditions in solitary confinement are very touching. Recommended

I am just very perturbed that this book is no longer available as my autographed copy was lost in a theft from our home. Please advise me if there is another printing being considered.