Post three dialectic journal entries as you read the text.
Tuesday: Post 1
Wednesday: Post 2
Thursday: Post 3
1)"We stayed motionless, petrified. Surely it was all a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?" (pg. 28)
In these short sentences, Elie Wiesel describes how all of this seemed like a nightmare. A nightmare that you cannot wake up from. He makes the horrors of the Holocaust more understandable to us by relating it to a nightmare. We can imagine our worst nightmare, and imagine if it really was true? If it wasn't a nightmare, but real life? It's unbelievable. Elie Wiesel was standing in a line in a concentration camp, a boy of fifteen. The line led to death, to his grave. He was in line for the cremotoria. The smell of human flesh in the air. How could such a sight be imagined by us? It can't. The only thing that can be is perhaps our worst nightmare.
2)" Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for?." (pg. 31)
In this quote, Elie Wiesel is questioning his religion, his beliefs. For him, it felt as though people were all alone, abandoned at the time by G-d. That He is the One who chose to be silent. He felt that he had nothing to thank Him for.
3)"Someone began to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. I do not know if it ever happened before, in the long history of the Jews, that people have ever recited the prayer for the dead for themselves." (pg. 31)
I only hear the recital of the Kaddish and recited the Kaddish at funerals or at synagouge when someone has died. People don't recite Kaddish for themselves in Jewish law, even when they know they're about to die. They know that their family friends, and the rabbi will recite it for them. But in the Holocaust, the people knew that they were going to die. And who will recite Kaddish for them? There was no one. Everyone were awaiting the same fate. When in the history of the Jewish people did people have to recite Kaddish for themselves? Reciting the Kaddish was the last thing that they could do, it made them feel better. Who will know of their deaths? Who will care enough to recite Kaddish for them? Their family were dying too. They couldn't recite Kaddish. Many died and many had no one else to recite Kaddish for them, the prayer of the dead. It is the last prayer.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
"The Perils of Indifference"
This is an exerpt from the speech "The Perils of Indifference".
"What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?"
Answer Elie Weisel's questions to the best of your ability. Use your heart, your mind, your understanding of human nature, and historical evidence. A minimum of 300 words is expected.
For me, "indifference" is really just what he says..."no difference". But this totally contradicts human. Everyone is different. No one is the same. Not everybody can be treated the same. It the same thing for men and women. People say that they are equal. But they are NOT equal. They have different types of roles in life and it's just how it is. Yes, they need to be given the same rights and the same chances in education and work. One shouldn't be treated lower than the other, but the same. Same doesn't always mean that everything should be the same. Each of them of very important roles and jobs to do, and if one of them wants to be like the other, it just won't work. We need both for the world. If all men do things that typically women do, or all women do things that typically men do , then there will be this huge empty space, this gap, on one side. Everything needs to be balanced out. It's not natural. To me, indifference is the ability to accept. Just to accept. It's not "equal" or no difference. Christians, Jews, Muslims, they are all different. They're not the same. That's why there are different ethnic groups, races. No one can be like the other. But we are all equal in our rights. The rights to live, to have an education, to work.
Some People just can't accept. Most anti-semantics and racist people just don't have know about the other race, religion, or culture. They haven't really talked to them. They haven't really meet them. They just know that they are bad and need to be exterminated. That's all. Why? Why are they so bad? You ask. Their answer? Maybe they'll give a reason: Because they have all the money, because they bombed us, because they are different. Ok, maybe those people did bomb. But this was a small number of their group. It not that all of a sudden everyone in the same race, religion, etc. think the same, do the same. They don't. Everyone is different in that group. One cannot judge a whole group. Each person should be only judged by themselves, as individuals, not from their background and where they are coming from. But there's a huge problem with this. People can't do that. We can't "Not Judge" a person by where they are coming from. We can't look at a person all the time and not think about the bad their country or race has done. It takes a really strong kind of person to do this.
"What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?"
Answer Elie Weisel's questions to the best of your ability. Use your heart, your mind, your understanding of human nature, and historical evidence. A minimum of 300 words is expected.
For me, "indifference" is really just what he says..."no difference". But this totally contradicts human. Everyone is different. No one is the same. Not everybody can be treated the same. It the same thing for men and women. People say that they are equal. But they are NOT equal. They have different types of roles in life and it's just how it is. Yes, they need to be given the same rights and the same chances in education and work. One shouldn't be treated lower than the other, but the same. Same doesn't always mean that everything should be the same. Each of them of very important roles and jobs to do, and if one of them wants to be like the other, it just won't work. We need both for the world. If all men do things that typically women do, or all women do things that typically men do , then there will be this huge empty space, this gap, on one side. Everything needs to be balanced out. It's not natural. To me, indifference is the ability to accept. Just to accept. It's not "equal" or no difference. Christians, Jews, Muslims, they are all different. They're not the same. That's why there are different ethnic groups, races. No one can be like the other. But we are all equal in our rights. The rights to live, to have an education, to work.
Some People just can't accept. Most anti-semantics and racist people just don't have know about the other race, religion, or culture. They haven't really talked to them. They haven't really meet them. They just know that they are bad and need to be exterminated. That's all. Why? Why are they so bad? You ask. Their answer? Maybe they'll give a reason: Because they have all the money, because they bombed us, because they are different. Ok, maybe those people did bomb. But this was a small number of their group. It not that all of a sudden everyone in the same race, religion, etc. think the same, do the same. They don't. Everyone is different in that group. One cannot judge a whole group. Each person should be only judged by themselves, as individuals, not from their background and where they are coming from. But there's a huge problem with this. People can't do that. We can't "Not Judge" a person by where they are coming from. We can't look at a person all the time and not think about the bad their country or race has done. It takes a really strong kind of person to do this.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
