STORY 8: paradise road parallel
(Anecdote)
At 14 years old, Hanka Siegreich risked her life in a Nazi slave labour camp to bring Siegmund (her future husband) food. Siegmund was hiding in a hole in the ground; he feared that he would be shot because he refused to make ammunitions. When Hanka was caught, she cried because her “tooth” was aching; the Auschwitz guards ripped out her tooth. To her, the love and support offered to her by her friend was everything to her.
In such circumstances, when faced with life and death, hardship and suffering, Hanka clung to the hope and companionship offered by her friend. At other times, individuals find hope in music; sometimes in poetry and often in books. Often people need to protect, as Siegmund did, his views, values and principles. This can lead to disaster even death. There are some times when people do not find a cause; they simple do whatever it takes to survive. Some become more shamefully selfish than others.
Hanka Siegreich and her husband, Siegmund met by chance as teenagers in a Nazi slave labour camp in Poland. They both risked their lives in different ways for each other. The pair had met by chance as teenagers in a Nazi slave-labour camp in Poland during the final months of World War II and showed remarkable resilience and audacity when faced with sheer terror. Hanka recounted how at 14 years old, alone and frightened, she had fallen in love with her future husband, Siegmund, and smuggled food out of the camp to give to him as he hid in a hole in the ground. Siegmund was making munitions in the camp and was caught audaciously trying to sabotage the procedures (Nazi war machine). Hanka risked her life to bring him food. When she was caught, she cried because her “tooth” was aching. …
CHANGE and awareness: Siegmund says, “The psychological damage didn’t help, but maybe it helped in some ways to be stronger, to be more adjustable to conditions.”
Siegmund believes that their happiness derives from working and supporting each other as a close team. It was different in those days – our attitude was different, we didn’t have any expectation, we built our life together. Today, young couples have expectations, they want to have everything instant, yesterday. We had to build step by step from nothing, worse than nothing.
STORY 9: Good people
German philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote of heroic individuals that there seems to be a compulsion to do the “right thing”. Called “the voice from the grave” the final editorial written by the Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge foreshadowed his own death because he refused to compromise his principles and took an impartial stance on the ethnic rivalry between the Tamils and the Singhalese. He championed the Tamils right to justice; he criticised the government’s brutal and discriminatory treatment of the Tamils who he said were ‘deprived of all self respect”. “When finally I am killed it will be the Government that kills me, he wrote (referring to President Mahinda Rajapakse”. He hinted at the killers from within the ranks of Sri Lanka’s Government and detailed its flouting of democracy. Wickrematunge was shot in the head in Colombo by two gunmen on a motorcycle.
(Bad people) Contrastingly, Hannah Arendt also says that true war criminals like Adolf Eichmann, the key engineer of the Holocaust, are simply evil. She describes such barbaric people as “banal” individuals who are unable to morally grasp the enormity of what they have done.
Perhaps this is the case with the Japanese guards. They are simply evil. Not because of their Japanese culture but because of the evil within. Likewise, the leaders and foot soldiers of ISIL are all little Eichmanns. They are brutal fanatics; they are “banal” and they lack a moral conscience.
Story 10.
In 2005, as a 15 year old girl, Laxmi Nagar was vivacious and attractive. She was pursued by the 32-year old friend of her brother. After she refused an invitation of marriage, rejected, and full of hatred, he followed her one day through the streets, tapped her on the shoulder, and threw acid on her face and neck. After several operations later, Laxmi, has spent her life campaigning for women’s rights and supporting other acid victims who are seeking awareness for their plight.
Although Laxmi, will forever be burdened by pain, skin infections and self-doubts, she at least won a small victory against her attacker, who will never face charges. Rejected men are able to buy acid from the grocery store for 30 rupees. Laxmi filed a public interest petition in India’s highest court to demand that the government restrict the sale of acid. She won a landmark judgement in 2013. Now, acid is only sold if one has a special permit. She has become the face of the Stop Acid Attacks campaign which seeks to give financial and moral support to victims around the world.
Laxmi’s courage is clear. Overcoming physical and psychological scars Laxmi was determined to draw attention to the plight of victims who suffer because of men’s arrogance and their vulnerable egos. As her partner says, “I fell in love with her because of her bravery. I love people like her who are so alive and want to change the world and not just live their own life. She fought for justice despite her own ordeal.
See also war parallels
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