A Forgotten Chapter: Holland Under the Third Reich

[Bill Murray]

The personal aspect, very personal.

I like to think of myself as a very compassionate human being.
I read these things we are discussing, I see them in pictures and on the tellie and I feel so, so terrible about them.

But, and this runs through my mind from time to time when I read a story in the newspaper or see on TV or the Internet about a murder committed with no reason, I ask myself, "what would I do?"

What would my immediate instinct be if someone murdered my wife or one of my children or grandchildren. And I mean here that there would be no question who did what to whom, it would be an open and shut case. The answer I come up with just about every time is, I will kill that sonofabitch myself. No trial, no appeals, no listening to testimony about the individuals difficult upbringing or that he/she were molested as a child or that they come from a disadvantaged sector of society. I will just kill the bastard.

And that is the saddest part for me. Several of you have pointed out this problem from a global society point of view, I am merely bringing it down to a very personal level. As compassionate as I consider myself to be, in the end I am probably no different than any other human being when someone takes away a part of my life. It may well be that I would not actually carry out the above thought but the mere fact that I think it shows me that I may not be much removed from the cavemen or the Carthaginians or the Nazis or the Rwandans.

As a thoughtful individual, I try to separate myself from those named above. In the case I cite, it would be "different". But when it comes time to pulling the trigger or swinging the sword or tossing the lance, is it really any different? Probably all of those who pulled/swung/tossed thought they were doing the right thing too.

Kind of hard being a human being isn't it. We have so many ways to kill each other and we get better at it all the time.

Well troopers, that was a bummer of a post wasn't it. I will leave this thread and go over and mess with Geoff a bit about his rib and his PC problems.
Bill