Hi Barry, no problem with expressing your POV to me. The 3rd person was a bit different.
My sister's husband's relative "lived" in a concentration camp (apparently, for being too neighborly with the Jewish family in the neighborhood.) When she was willing to talk about it to me, I asked her some questions, "why did they do this" and "did any neighbor offer to help and how big was the neighborhood" and "why didn't people help"? Always the same answer, "no excuse."
I really didn't think of her as brave. I think of her as an independent person who stayed by her values, even if her other neighbors were like sheep following a dangerous leader. She was a very simple, quiet person that believed in the concept of being neighborly. It's amazing how something so simple and pure could be twisted into something so dangerous to her life.
When I talked with her, I didn't think of it like how you seem to think on these matters (showing such bravery in the face of a regime no less fearful and brutal than the Nazis) - maybe because she was part of our family I didn't put her on a pedestal by thinking she was brave. I didn't think of her as a brave person. I thought she was simply being neighborly. And independent enough to continue to be neighborly, when all of the other neighbors turned their backs on the Jewish family in her neighborhood.
When her and I discussed her background once (and only once, because it was very painful for her to even talk about it), I actually had my questions and thoughts turned more towards her other neighbors who turned their backs - how could they be like what they were - why were they like sheep? And I focused on society as a whole.
I concluded at the time, after asking how many people were in the neighborhood and dividing 1 (her) by the total neighbor count, that she was a statistical anomoly (for reasons that I still do not understand today).
She was a statistical anomoly.
So, from my perspective, Jessica is very lucky because it's statistically unlikely to find people like Mohammed under situations of war and world crimes. I also kept thinking about how could a person slap another person while they're in a hospital bed.
So, I think she was statistically lucky because people like Mohammed and my relative, are simply a statistical anomoly.
Just curious, why you thought my interpretation was worth pointing out? I didn't understand.
On another note, Mohammed's activities didn't restore my faith in human-kind, because of my relatives experience and another experience, where I've permenantly fixed in my mind, that humankind has the dangerous potential to be lead to approve or do something very dangerous or even murderous, and by forgetting that, society risks another Holocaust of any group.
I never really gave any thoughts of bravery to what Mohammed did, probably because I never gave any thoughts of bravery to what my brother-in-law's relative did. I don't think of her as brave. I think of her as independent. Did what was expected.
Rather than focusing on bravery, I tend to believe society could get to the next level, by spending more time thinking about why people so easily follow bad leaders and why don't people think more independently?
Regards,
Amy J |
