By now the news has circulated around the world several times; crazed Christian fundamentalist opens fire on a campsite in Norway, kills 92, injures another 96. This is horrible, tragic, and shocking, but in the midst of all this there are the heroes who drop all sense of self and leap right into reaching out a helping hand to people in need. Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen are two such people, having heard the commotion at the campsite across the lake from where they were dining, the women dropped everything, got into a small boat and set to rowing towards the island to pluck panicked people from the waters as they attempted to flee the gunfire. Four trips were made by Dalen and Hansen, forty people were saved, so why hasn't the news touched upon their heroic tale?
Because Dalen and Hansen are a married, lesbian couple.
Really?!
This is nearly as tragic to me as hearing someone who calls themselves a Christian opening fire upon a peaceful collection of children. These wonderful women performed a gracious act, born of genuine concern for humanity, yet their story is overlooked by all of the media outlets which would normally scramble all over this sort of “human interest” tale. For this reason, I'm sharing their words with you now and encourage you to share this with your friends as well.
The Finnish capital city's largest daily newspaper “Helsingin Sanomat” published this account (Translated from Finnish):
Hege Dalen and her spouse, Toril Hansen were near Utöyan having dinner on the opposite shore across from the ill-fated campsite, when they began to hear gunfire and screaming on the island.
“We were eating. Then shooting and then the awful screaming. We saw how the young people ran in panic into the lake,” says Dale to HS in an interview.
The couple immediately took action and pushed the boat into Lake Tyrifjorden.
Dalen and Hansen drove the boat to the island, picked up from the water victims in shock in, the young and wounded, and transported them to the opposite shore to the mainland. Between runs they saw that the bullets had hit the right side of the boat.
Since there were so many and not all fit at once aboard, they returned to the island four times.
They were able to rescue 40 young people from the clutches of the killer.
“We did not sleep last night at all. Today, we have been together and talked about the events,” Dalen said.
