On 7th July 2005, 52 people died and many were severely injured and maimed by suicide bombers attacking London's transport system. On a Piccadilly line underground train between Kings Cross and Russell Square stations, Australian-born Gill Hicks miraculously survived but lost both her legs due to the explosion. One of her initial responses to this horrific incident was to visit the cities where the bombers and their families lived. She spent time working to restore peace as opposed to generating anger.
"Within an hour, help arrived by way of the emergency services. Each person who 'saved' me that day did so without knowing who I was. To them, it didn't matter if I was rich or poor, black or white, female or male, Muslim or Jew, religious or not. What mattered to the police, the ambulance, the paramedics, the surgeons, the nurses, and all who never gave up the effort to save my life was that I was a precious human being. I arrived at the hospital as 'One Unknown' – an estimated female."
"And honoring Life is to live without hatred, to not seek revenge or want violent retribution; to ensure that the cycle of conflict ends with me. I don't see these actions or feelings as forgiveness, as I question if the suicide bomber would want my forgiveness, and he is dead, so we shall never know. All I can do is follow the example so brilliantly shown to me by all those who saved my life – that humanity, empathy, compassion are the attributes that I want to take into my second chance, my life number 2. My commitment is to be on the journey of understanding, to understand why a 19-year-old man from the north of England would take his own life and want to take mine.
I knew instinctively that the vow I made in the carriage to make a difference was exactly what I needed to do, so I left my career within architecture and design and created a not-for-profit business, called Making a Difference for Peace or M.A.D. My focus was to do all I could to deter anyone from falling under the influence of destructive extremist ideas and, worse, becoming human weapons".
