THOUGHTS FOR THIS SHABBOS
LemonLimeMoon had a wonderful post yesterday about love. We seem to be on a similar wavelength; as I posted this recently.
So in the spirit of shabbos, honoring Hashem and deep thoughts I offer this from Keli Ata's latest GOOD READ recommendation, Eli Wiesel's NIGHT and commentary from Dr. Roger Melton on Blame.
"You can run, but you can't hide" - Joe Louis
On Dangerous GroundBlame is a dangerous thing. And it is a necessity when trying to recognize any source of harm, because harm cannot be prevented until its origin can be identified. Blame’s necessity lies in the fact that it seeks to discover who is responsible when something goes wrong in the world and then put a name to the accused. Naming the accused is the first step toward righting a wrong by defining its source. But blaming alone can become a disastrously false step.
The danger in blame is that it can also be a way of avoiding a solution to harm, because it is easy to accuse. When we are frightened or angry in the face of a great wrong, it is that good thing in each of us — justice — which cries out for satisfaction. It is right to want to stop a wrong. It is one of the best instinctual qualities in sane human beings, but it is a quality that can quickly turn upon itself and become the very evil it seeks to defeat.
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel tells a wonderfully haunting story of how he almost became what he hated. He spent part of his adolescence growing up in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. One night, he was telling an old rabbi about his greatest desire.
He was relating a series of extremely violent fantasies to the rabbi, which were elaborately detailed images of exactly what tortures he would inflict upon their Gestapo guards---if he "ever had the chance." The tortures were all those that he had seen inflicted upon his fellow inmates.
He went on talking to the rabbi for quite a long time and, the longer he talked, the more his voice filled with cold-blooded rage and hate toward the Gestapo. Finally, he was so emotionally choked with hatred that he simply could not speak.
There was a long silence.
Then the rabbi steadily looked the young boy in the eye and simply said, "Oh. I see. You’ve become them."
Wiesel describes this as a major turning point in his life regarding his understanding of hate. Hatred, itself, can transform one into that which is hated. It is a realization vital to remember whenever someone who has been under an abuser’s "spell" decides to break that spell.
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Dr. Melton, I couldn't agree more. And Lemon, thanks for the deep thoughts kick start! - Barbara
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We can hold onto integrity.