The death of a German national in Riyadh last week rubbed me raw, grating on a wound that has been festering for quite some time now. Coming on the heels of a previous round of senseless shootings in Yanbu targeted against contract personnel, this one was just as heinous and sinful an attack against the innocent.
Six years ago, Hermann Bengler came to Riyadh from a small town in Bavaria in southern Germany. He was not a military man or a politician. A chef by trade, he was employed immediately by the catering section of the national airline. In pursuing his trade, Hermann did what he loved best. And he did it well enough to be promoted to head chef. Very recently his employment contract was extended for an added term.
Like many who have traveled far and wide, he had chosen this place as his land of opportunity. A place to grow, to enrich himself, and to raise a family. Marrying a lady he met here a year after his arrival, he was overjoyed when his growing family was blessed with a baby daughter.
And he loved the desert. Friends tell of his passion for the great vast outdoors, his weekend treks to areas awash with silence and serenity, of camping trips and excitement at new discoveries. In short, a man who thought he had it all. And he got along well with the locals.
His vile death as he was leaving a bank last Saturday by assailants has brought no one joy, except perhaps to the murderers who committed this crime.
Hermann Bengler, who like most of us got up each day, had breakfast, kissed his wife and child goodbye and went to work, was a man who put all his efforts at work into earning an honest living.
And when he returned home, a loving family would always be there to welcome him. Sadly, with his killing, those days will never be repeated again for his wife or child. They were robbed. And by scum whose motives are twisted and perverse.
And when they are caught, which they surely will eventually, these criminals should expect no mercy. For there are no rewards now or in the hereafter for those who carry out such crimes. Only the fires of hell shall eagerly await them.
What occurred was not a political statement, nor a just cause. It was an affront to the threads that bind our morality. It was a malicious killing of a human being. For whatever cause prompted them to commit this crime, let it be known that it is one that brings damnation. In defiling the sanctity of our guest workers, they have defiled all of us.
Farewell, Mr. Bengler. May your soul rest in peace. In losing you we have indeed lost one of our own.
