My mom came to Germany bearing gifts.
Some books—autobiographies, actually—from people who survived fascism during World War 2.
Amazing books. Both of them.
I have so many feelings while I read these. The first feeling is: how could people do this to other people??
Really, I read about these accounts of torture and unsurmountable odds these people faced and I have no doubt that they have been changed for life during these times, but I think that I may have contemplated death over trying to live knowing that every day is a fight to survive.
The other feeling is that I would have been one of the dead ones.
Dead as a doorknob.
I'd have been one of those extras in movies that gets killed right away. No starring role. No heroic comeback.
I am about to finish reading "The Long Walk" about a group of men who hiked from Siberia to India. Through the Siberian winter and the desert and death and no food and no water.
I'd have been the first dead guy. I am simply not built for that kind of suffering.
When they go 13 days with no water.
Me=dead.
When they hike across the desert with no food and water.
Me=dead.
It makes me think that my life is pretty damn good when my biggest problems are the silly ones: what to wear, what (of the many possibilities) to drink...
I am more grateful, now, that I have a good life. And we should all feel this way. Should we?
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3 comments:
yes, we should all feel this way.
in fact, i suspect it is the ability to feel this way that enables some people to survive without water for thirteen days, or on (infinitely) long walks from india to siberia.
of course, i'm not one of those people, so i can't be sure.
p.s.
judging by the gifts, i think your mom may REALLY want you to come home.
Glad you read the books & they gave you something to think about. I'm very proud of your observations & that you're willing to share them. You done good!!
Mom
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