The Sunflower
Thanks for letting me rant and rave last week. Chris asked me the night I wrote the blog what I was specifically writing about - he said I never really addressed the issue of what made me so angry at the school system. Well, my response took about 30 minutes to explain all that was bothering me, so I will spare you the details (and myself the typing). I think my point was not the specifics but the general frustration I have with the top-down approach of the education system right now. Again, thanks for reading.
I want to apologize if I offended you in any way. I won't write about my political views here much because I know we all might think many different things, so I'm sorry if my views are not the same as yours. I do not mean to offend.
On a completely different note, I have to recommend a book for you to read. I've only read the first section, but it has been swirling about in my mind for days now. The Sunflower by Simone Weisenthal (spelling?) is a book about forgiveness and redemption, essentially. Mr. Weisenthal was a Jewish man who survived the holocaust and later became a "Nazi hunter" seeking out SS soldiers and others and sending them to their trials and sentencing - many of them to death. But the book is about an experience he had in a concentration camp when he was pulled aside in a hospital where he was working to see a dying SS soldier. The soldier wanted to repent and be redeemed for his sins - among the many - murder of many Jews. Weisenthal wrestles with his decision and eventually walks away from the man's bedside, unable to offer forgiveness - especially as he himself is still facing death every hour. After that section of the book, others discuss his situation and what they would do in his place. I haven't started that part of the book yet. I have been wondering if I would be able to forgive someone who had that much evil in their lives. And Weisenthal proposes the question of whether the SS soldier's crime is the only forgiveness needed? What about the others who did nothing to stop the slaughter of the Jews, what about those who mocked and humiliated them before the holocaust even began? I haven't come to any decision yet. I'm not sure I can. But it's certainly worth thinking over.
How much I'd rather think about the complex and serious issue of forgiveness rather than the state of the education system!
I want to apologize if I offended you in any way. I won't write about my political views here much because I know we all might think many different things, so I'm sorry if my views are not the same as yours. I do not mean to offend.
On a completely different note, I have to recommend a book for you to read. I've only read the first section, but it has been swirling about in my mind for days now. The Sunflower by Simone Weisenthal (spelling?) is a book about forgiveness and redemption, essentially. Mr. Weisenthal was a Jewish man who survived the holocaust and later became a "Nazi hunter" seeking out SS soldiers and others and sending them to their trials and sentencing - many of them to death. But the book is about an experience he had in a concentration camp when he was pulled aside in a hospital where he was working to see a dying SS soldier. The soldier wanted to repent and be redeemed for his sins - among the many - murder of many Jews. Weisenthal wrestles with his decision and eventually walks away from the man's bedside, unable to offer forgiveness - especially as he himself is still facing death every hour. After that section of the book, others discuss his situation and what they would do in his place. I haven't started that part of the book yet. I have been wondering if I would be able to forgive someone who had that much evil in their lives. And Weisenthal proposes the question of whether the SS soldier's crime is the only forgiveness needed? What about the others who did nothing to stop the slaughter of the Jews, what about those who mocked and humiliated them before the holocaust even began? I haven't come to any decision yet. I'm not sure I can. But it's certainly worth thinking over.
How much I'd rather think about the complex and serious issue of forgiveness rather than the state of the education system!
posted by gnat @ 6:00 PM
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