Ahmed Al Ahmed wasn’t a true-blue, sun-bronzed chisel-jawed type of hero.
He wasn’t a pale-faced flag-waving man with a moustache either.
He was a nobody like you and me, but he’d had enough of hatred and stupidity and bloodshed.
He’d seen it all before and he came to Australia to get away from it.
Ahmed Al Ahmed came to Australia in 2006 from a small village in Syria to give himself a better life.
He is just like thousands of others who look for the light in a world of darkness.
He found his light here in Australia and when the darkness again threatened to snuff it out, he stood up and said, enough.
Thank Allah, thank God, thank Jehovah — thank whoever you want to thank.
But in the end, we must all thank goodness for ordinary decent, brave men like Ahmed.
There were others whose bravery ended in the sacrifice of their own lives, such as Boris and Sofia Gurman, who died while also trying to disarm one of the gunmen.
There were others, too, who ran towards the danger — paramedics, police and Jacko the Bondi lifesaver filmed running barefoot with a bag of medical supplies slung over his shoulder into the maelstrom of death.
These are the things to remember when the senselessness of it all threatens to overwhelm us.
These are the people who sign on the line every day to help others in distress, but Ahmed didn’t sign on the line.
He just ran his tobacco shop to support his family and tried to live a quiet, ordinary life until hate came knocking.
Ahmed’s remarkable story doesn’t end with his act of fearless heroism.
What he did next carries the most potent symbol of humanity in the whole ugly saga.
Once he had wrenched the gun away from the killer, he walked forward pointing the weapon at the other man, finger on the trigger.
Because that is what you do with a gun.
It’s a killing thing, and you point it at things you want to kill.
But Ahmed didn’t kill anyone.
Instead, he put the gun down, carefully resting it against a tree.
At that point it may not have been loaded, but it was still a powerful symbol.
In making that choice, Ahmed was saying to the killer and the world: enough.
We are light-filled men. We are not beasts raging in the darkness.
Ahmed’s example is a reminder that Australia is one of the world’s most successful multicultural nations where, according to the 2021 census, a vast mix of people from around 200 countries live and work together in peace and co-operation.
Shepparton is a wonderful example of this richness.
Ahmed Al Ahmed is a Muslim man who put his life on the line to save the lives of his ancestral enemies who, just like him, have chosen Australia to live in their own way in peace and co-operation.
In doing so, Ahmed showed us what it means to defy the stereotype, and what it means to be a real Australian.
