(Tom Jirik wrote columns in several newspapers in Iowa from the late 1980’s to the mid 1990’s.  This column originally appeared in the The Boone Today) 

Tom Sutherland isn’t bitter.

He was held captive in Lebanon for more than six years.  He was chained to a wall.  He was beaten.  He was isolated from his friends and family.  His diet for all of those years consisted of bread, rice, water, tea and cheese.

But Tom Sutherland isn’t bitter.  Not at all.

“Bitterness is a very destructive emotion,” Sutherland said.  “I could spend all my time being bitter and those guys over there in Lebanon wouldn’t even know it.”

Instead of being bitter, Sutherland is having the time of his life.  He says everyday is like spending another day on a honeymoon with his wife, Jan.  This spring and summer have been the most beautiful he can remember.

“We’re the luckiest, happiest people in the United States or the world, for that matter,” he said.

I’ve seen Sutherland speak several times since his release in November.  Each time I’m impressed, and awed by the strength, insight, and wisdom he seems to have gained from his ordeal.

Monday morning in Pittsburgh, I saw Sutherland appear before the American Society of Animal Science at the group’s annual meeting.  He greeted his colleagues with sincerity and charm.   There was no doubt that he is a man who is thrilled to be alive and enjoying every minute of it.

Sutherland received a master’s degree in animal science for Iowa State University in 1956 and a Ph. D. In 1958.  His wife is an Ames native.   He was kidnapped by armed gunmen while being driven from the Beirut airport to on June 9, 1985.  He was on leave from Colorado State University at the time and was serving as dean of agriculture and food sciences at the American University in Beirut.

“Our very survival depended on not dwelling on the negative aspect,” Sutherland said of his captivity.  “The experience has given me a renewed appreciation for the simple things of live-like sunlight.”

Sutherland said he knew there were risks in Lebanon.  The embassy had warned him of the dangers.  The president of the American University in Beirut, a friend of Sutherland’s had been assassinated only a few months before the kidnapping. “I stood over the pool of blood on the sidewalk and knew I had to make some decision,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland attributes his decision to stay in Lebanon to his Scottish stubbornness and a commitment to the educational ideals of the American University in Beirut.  It was a decision that cost him more than six more years of his life.

Still there is no regret and no bitterness.  Tom Sutherland is too busy enjoying a life of freedom to worry about those things.