Peter Theo Curtis is a free man.

Yes, that’s reason to cheer. He’d been held captive by an al-Qaeda-linked terror organization in Syria for two years. Now he’s out, apparently in good health.

His country is happy that he’s free. It’s time to cheer that event.

How, though, does one American family react to this news? I refer to the loved ones of James Foley, another American journalist who was murdered by his captors, also after being held for about two years in Syria.

http://news.msn.com/world/us-says-american-held-in-syria-has-been-freed

My heart breaks for the Foley family. They cannot possibly be greeting this news with unabashed joy. They are still crushed by their loved one’s fate.

The White House reacted with understandable relief at the news. But issued a word of caution: “The president shares in the joy and relief that we all feel now that Theo is out of Syria and safe,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “But we continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria, and we will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed.”

The United States and our allies are dealing with unpredictability in the extreme. One terror organization commits a cold-blooded act of murder while another one releases a hostage. How does a government respond to this complicated set of circumstances juxtaposed to each other?

No one should delude themselves into thinking this is an easy puzzle to solve or a problem with a clear solution.