There was a family gathering yesterday on my side of the family. I got to see my parents, siblings, uncles and cousins again, some for the last time before we leave for our trip. We talked a little bit about the climate and culture of South Korea, as well as the political stability of the region. The discussion turned to the Korean hostages in Afghanistan and we were jokingly asked if our faces would soon be appearing on their TV screens asking for help from Canadians to be released.

Both of the organizations we looked at working with have the same policy when it comes to hostage takings. If Ana and/or I were kidnapped the organization that employs us would not pay any ransom demands to have us released. This may sound heartless but it makes a lot of sense. Any money given to an organization willing to kidnap someone for it could only go to support more violence. Christian Peacemaker Teams has the same policy and refused to pay to have their workers released in Iraq.

I’m not sure if the Korean aid workers currently being held hostage felt that they would be safe because they were protected by God, because their cause was noble enough, or because the situation just wasn’t that bad. It would be interesting to hear if they had any sort of contingency plan for this kind of scenario. It is obviously a tragic situation, and it’s impossibly to know how one would react in their shoes, but I would like to think that I would refuse to trade my freedom for that of a terrorist prisoner. I don’t believe that every Taliban prisoner is a bloodthirsty savage, but it just doesn’t sound like a fair trade to me.