Brian Keenan: From Hostage to Mystic

“We were chained but they were chained to their guns”, said Brian Keenan after being released from 4 1/2 years of captivity and brutalisation as a hostage of the Islamic Jihad during the Lebanese civil war. This is a fascinating interview. I believe there is a greatness about Brian Keenan. He has suffered more than most should ever have to in one life time. From growing up in the back streets of Belfast, he travelled to Beirut as an English teacher during a civil war. There he became a hostage. But today Brian is more like a mystic. He has a profound humanity and sees beauty in others. It was extremely moving to hear him talking about one of his captors who treated him with a particularly malicious cruelty. He said if he was to meet ‘Said’ he would want to sit and have a coffee with him and ask him what was going on in his head in those days. Why did he treat him so cruelly? I saw no desire for revenge in Brian, just a generous heartedness and profound wisdom. Among several other books Brian detailed his time as a hostage in his critically acclaimed book “An Evil Cradling”.