in personal sacrifice more moving than Schindler
The story of the girl who eventually became a mistress to a senior German officer, in order to save twelve of her Jewish friends. For which she was named "Righteous Among the Nations", the highest honour awarded by the state of Israel to any person.Recommended reading. Even for teens, nay, especially for teens--to teach us that kindness to the point of self-sacrifice, while requiring immense courage, is not impossible. That above "saving only oneself", there is the nobler "saving others, which is also healing and redeeming one's soul". That the greatest acts of kindness are those we extend when we ourselves are suffering--or is it proof that often, no matter how great our pains, there are others in greater pain and need, who could use our help? Indeed, "our choices then will define what we are, if and when we ourselves survive". Among the most moving parts is her statement "You must understand that I did not become a resistance fighter, a smuggler of Jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis all at once. One's first steps are always small: I had begun by hiding food under a fence.". And in an interview before she passed away recently (MAY2003), she said of her sacrifice, "It was a small price to pay."
全日法規
|