To Pass the Time....
Since I dont want to keep reading "The Sunflower" right now, I thought it would be a great idea to post! Since, you know, plattville is boring at the moment and there's no one else to play naked tag with (phil's working).
Let's see, what has everyone missed?....hmmm, well, Kerry made the great quote on 12/30 at chula vista in winona. "I'm not drunk, I'm just stupid." Well....thats an understatement...hehe. That was a fun day though. I went up to the cities with sarah merchlewitz. She had her sound post moved and bridge replaced and wanted another set of ears to listen to her inst. So I went, figuring I could look at some viola bows since I'm going to be looking around as soon as i get some more birthday money. Let's just say at the end of the day I was bringing $9000 in bows that I had liked from earlier that day. Oh, that Kerry told me that she's going to break up with Karl so that she can date me since I call at least 2 hrs ahead of time to say that I'll be about 15-20 min late, where as Karl will be 2 hrs late and not call. :) I guess I have the touch with the ladies? but if thats the case why in the hell am I still SINGLE?!?!? grrr. I'll have to see what happens in 2 weeks or so when a girl that I'd like to ask out gets back here to platteville.
New Year's I spent at Kerry's house with a lot of girls. No problem for me. Let's see, there was Kerry, Karl, Brian, Tracie, Kris, Emily, Sarah, and I. I got my butt whipped at Clue FX. oh yeah, and Kerry bought me a 12 pack of Rolling Rock, from now on refered to as "apple juice," instead of the 6 pack like I had asked. so i had to bringa bunch back with me to platteville since I needed to be able to drive home friday and wouldnt be able to do that if I had consumed a 12 pack. It was good apple juice however.
Seriously, nothing happened on New years day for me other than watching Texas win the Rose Bowl. Nothing.
So last night while watching Fellowship of the Ring extended edition, phil and I are going to watch the other two extended tonight and tomorrow, phil and I decided that we need to take his Disney Princess wrapping paper and use it in the hallway somehow. I think we should put it over Benji's room since he's the RA. I dont know though. That, and the idea of naked tag arose. Something tells me that I'm glad he's here to be bored with me otherwise i'd be lying on the floor wondering why i exist. Anyone want to come and visit us? the lot is completely empty.
I guess I need to get to reading my book. :'(
Heart Otto
Let's see, what has everyone missed?....hmmm, well, Kerry made the great quote on 12/30 at chula vista in winona. "I'm not drunk, I'm just stupid." Well....thats an understatement...hehe. That was a fun day though. I went up to the cities with sarah merchlewitz. She had her sound post moved and bridge replaced and wanted another set of ears to listen to her inst. So I went, figuring I could look at some viola bows since I'm going to be looking around as soon as i get some more birthday money. Let's just say at the end of the day I was bringing $9000 in bows that I had liked from earlier that day. Oh, that Kerry told me that she's going to break up with Karl so that she can date me since I call at least 2 hrs ahead of time to say that I'll be about 15-20 min late, where as Karl will be 2 hrs late and not call. :) I guess I have the touch with the ladies? but if thats the case why in the hell am I still SINGLE?!?!? grrr. I'll have to see what happens in 2 weeks or so when a girl that I'd like to ask out gets back here to platteville.
New Year's I spent at Kerry's house with a lot of girls. No problem for me. Let's see, there was Kerry, Karl, Brian, Tracie, Kris, Emily, Sarah, and I. I got my butt whipped at Clue FX. oh yeah, and Kerry bought me a 12 pack of Rolling Rock, from now on refered to as "apple juice," instead of the 6 pack like I had asked. so i had to bringa bunch back with me to platteville since I needed to be able to drive home friday and wouldnt be able to do that if I had consumed a 12 pack. It was good apple juice however.
Seriously, nothing happened on New years day for me other than watching Texas win the Rose Bowl. Nothing.
So last night while watching Fellowship of the Ring extended edition, phil and I are going to watch the other two extended tonight and tomorrow, phil and I decided that we need to take his Disney Princess wrapping paper and use it in the hallway somehow. I think we should put it over Benji's room since he's the RA. I dont know though. That, and the idea of naked tag arose. Something tells me that I'm glad he's here to be bored with me otherwise i'd be lying on the floor wondering why i exist. Anyone want to come and visit us? the lot is completely empty.
I guess I need to get to reading my book. :'(
Heart Otto
posted by Otto at 1:47 PM
3 Comments:
Okay. I'm interested in others' responses to this. I read this book a while back, and had an assignment similar to Otto's. The Sunflower, written by Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal, is about Wiesenthal's experience in a concentration camp. He was starved, exhausted, and humiliated. One day, he was assigned to work at a hospital (ironically, the building was converted; it had been his high school). He was summoned by a nurse to the bedside of a dying Nazi. The Nazi told Simon about his experience killing Jews in cold blood. He had asked the nurse to bring a Jew to him so that he could ask for forgiveness. Here is Simon, in a camp, dehumanized, being asked by his very oppressor for forgiveness. The question is, what would you do? Would you forgive the dying man?
Well, I've read some of the book and I feel that I can finally answer your question. My answer is, as of right now, no. I would not forgive the dying SS man. I will post my essay to the question later. And what would you do Smiley?
I already told you that question is hard for me; that's why I asked. I consider myself a pretty decent human being. For this reason, I assume that I would forgive the man under normal circumstances; after all, not being a particulary vengeful person, I would not have much to gain in denying the dying man's wish. However, Wiesenthal was not asked to answer this request under normal circumstances. At this point in his life, he had been dehumanized by his experience in the camp. (See Primo Levi's _Survival in Auschwitz_ or Tadeusz Borowski's _This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen_ for further examples of this--both short and easy reads.) Inmates of many of the camps lost the capacity to feel normal human emotions, such as sympathy, empathy, and compassion. In their eat-or-be-eaten world, such emotions were weaknesses. So, Wiesenthal denied him. But, did he regret it? Probably. You can tell he did not feel the same way when he met the man's mother; he could have told her about her son's actions, but instead he comforted her. I believe that he would have forgiven the man if he had a second chance. If the man had not died overnight, Wiesenthal may have forgiven him when he returned to the hospital the next day.
Well, I guess I found my answer. I have decided that I would have forgiven the Nazi if I had been in Wiesenthal's shoes. I'll tell you why: the Nazis tried to make the Jews look and feel like animals. To forgive is to be human. To forgive the man would have been a direct protest against the Nazis. This would accomplish so much more than denying him; in denying him there is nothing to gain but a momentary satisfaction, but in forgiving him, I would assert that I am still a thinking, feeling human being.
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