Tuesday, August 29, 2006

gunter grass was a member of the Waffen SS

and it's got me thinking.

i know what the response should be: baaaaaad. nazis are baaaad.

and they were, i know.

but he was 17. would i have known any better at 17? if i had grown up under a nazi regime? if all of my friends, family, teachers, authority figures and peers were nazi? when i was 17, i was desperate for approval, desperate to fit in.

i like to think that i would have had the character and clarity to opt out, to stand up. that's what we all like to think, i'm sure. but clearly, not everyone does.

i suppose its the kind of thing you can't really know, until you face it.

and so i pose the question: is it better to face it and know for sure? or to enjoy the luxury of ignorance?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think, perhaps, that I prefer to enjoy the luxury of ignorance. Then again, I've never been dumb enough to think "that hater could never, would never be me." It's as pathetically closed-minded as the nazis were. You have to recognize that you're just doing your best with the hand you were lucky enough to be dealt.