Golda Meir compared the Righteous Among the Nations to drops of love in an ocean of poison, and said that "they rescued not only the lives of Jews, but had saved hope and the faith in the human spirit." (this is taken from the website of Yad Vashem - the holocaust museum in Israel)
At the end of the book Ms. Witterick quotes from Sydney J. Harris " Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable". I could see as I read the quote some of the things that hang over me that I did not do and should have done. I would guess that may be true for many of us.
It is something to think about: the things we did not do and should have, because it isn't too late. We are still alive and we can change, we can choose to live differently. We know that we can't undo the past but we can certainly act in the present which will become the past.
The other reason I have been thinking about courageous people is because of a hymn that someone sang at church recently. The song was a Spiritual called, I think, Deep River and it was explained to us that not only were the slaves singing about their hope of crossing a river to heaven but that underlying it was also their hope to cross the Niagara River to safety in Canada.
There have been many books and articles and programs in the last few decades about slavery. I never ever fail to be almost overwhelmed by the strength of faith and courage that so many people had in the face of lives of horror and apparent hopelessness. How did they manage to cling to the hope that they were in fact important in the eyes of God and that somehow, life here or 'in heaven' would make up for it. I am so in awe of such courage.
Ordinary people giving us all the hope that we too can be people of courage in the face of darkness, are such a gift. I am so grateful.
1 comment:
That book looks good. Thanks for mentioning it. But I'm not sure I agree that there is a difference between regretting things that we did or didn't do. I think in both cases we can still do something in the present to compensate for things we regret doing. Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of a Vietnam veteran who was haunted by his memory of murdering Vietnamese children. However, he found redemption by devoting his life to helping other children in some way, I can't remember the details. I think the point is that we can decide at any point to be braver or kinder or whatever we aren't yet. We don't have to be limited by whatever was our previous inadequate approach. There's no time like now to act on our beliefs.
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