Hundreds remember Bourke St Mall rampage victim Thalia Hakin, 10
THALIA Hakin loved for no reason and no gain. And her father says her love was unconditional: “From the day she was born to the day she died, she made me proud’’.
VIC News
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IN the months before Thalia Hakin entered the world, her parents Tony and Natalie would go anywhere music was played just so they could feel their unborn baby kick.
Her mother would arch her back and place her hands on her stomach as the infant responded to the noise and clutter of the outside world.
Little Thalia seemed so eager to be a part of it.
Her piercing blue eyes were the first thing that struck them when she was finally born.
The same eyes greeted them in the rear vision mirror on the nights when they drove in circles hoping to send their baby to sleep.
Wide-eyed and cheeky, Thalia didn’t want to miss a thing.
Speaking at her funeral on Wednesday, her father Tony said it was just one of her many characteristics.
Aged just 10, Thalia had mastered the kind of attributes many of us still grappled with in adulthood.
She was, he said, the very antithesis of what the man who mowed her down had become; strong, courageous, vibrant and happy.
More than 500 people gathered to farewell Thalia, one of five killed after a man in a car sped through Bourke Street mall.
But there would be no attempt by the largely Jewish congregation to reason with the circumstances surrounding her death.
Instead, they looked to her as example of how the shortest of lives often left the most enduring legacies.
Thalia, they heard, loved for no reason and for no gain.
“She was a kind kid,’’ Mr Hakin said. “She never ever wanted to hate people.’’
“From the day she was born to the day she died, she made me proud.’’
Sister Maggie, 9, who survived the tragedy, sat in a wheelchair in the front row of the service with a broken leg.
Her mother Natalie who was also injured, remained in hospital.
Mr Hakin said his daughter had been granted a gift known in Hebrew as “Ahavat Yisrael’’ — a love of people.
“That was her trait,’’ Mr Hakin said. “It was unconditional.’’
He used another Hebrew expression “Sinat Chinum’’ to explain the baseless hate that led to the death of his daughter.
But it was these senseless examples, he said, which often drew us closer to God and each other.
“If people take that on board and they do a nice deed each day — then they have honoured Thalia.’’
Teacher Gaby Jaffe said her student was spunky, vibrant, veracious and colourful.
“There was absolutely nothing dull about her,’’ she said. “A wonderful mix of resilience and vulnerability.’’
Thalia was the kind of kid who would yell greetings across the schoolyard or the supermarket aisle and was never shy to share an opinion, she said.
“She would freely and confidently express an opinion on my daily outfit,’’ Ms Jaffe said.
“I loved her creative mind, her sense of humour, her deep thinking and attention.’’
Religious leaders issued Psalms and Hebrew prayer in an attempt to offer comfort.
Then Rabbi Mendel Raskin urged those gathered to lead by Thalia’s example.
“Let us leave as better people,’’ he said.
“With a firm resolve to treat everybody as we would want to be treated ourselves.’’
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