The Devil to Determine
With the passage of time, we tend to look back on the waves of time that weaved our lives. A recent event made me reflect upon my own life. With retrospection I looked upon a defining year of salvation and revelation. It was 1950. The location was our home here in Castro Valley. A salvation happened. At age four I survived being run over by a 1948 Buick. A front tire on the car went over the thighs in both of my legs. It went in between my knees and pelvis. A few inches either way would have killed me or crippled me for life. Neither of the femur bones were broken. That was my salvation. I found out that life can end quickly.
The revelation came during my recuperation. While laying on the floor I glanced through scrapbooks my aunt had kept of WWII. Two photographs stood out. They were of naked bodies. They were stacked up like dead goats. The photos were taken during the liberation of the most famed death camp in history – Auschwitz. With the innocence of a small child, I wondered how something so evil could happen. These experiences bookmarked my life – salvation and revelation. One was good. One was bad. With that the mystery of history became a passion and a pursuit. The recent anniversary made me reflect on these experiences (the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was on January 27th).
As my life matured, these two experiences provided purposes. One was gratitude. The other was to try to understand the forces of good and bad, and the origins of evil. With curiosity it led me at the age of twenty-one to Eric Hoffer – one of the most profound writers on the rise of mass movements, as well as authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. His writings were bold and insightful. A friendship developed between us, which included discussions about these subjects. One of the mysteries he tried to solve was why good people (and educated people) turned bad and committed evil atrocities. In India, Mahatma Gandhi was doing the same. The void was filled with a haunting perspective from the historian-philosopher Hannah Arendt. She perceived the existence of an unknown element in the organics of the modern world. She coined this factor the “banality of evil.” She had discovered that good and educated people can become indifferent to the emergence of turpitude in their time. Worse yet, they can unwittingly become participants and contributors.
With the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in mind, it makes me reflect again upon these subjects. How did they happen? Although we have enhanced knowledge, we have more to learn. We need to not only examine what happens on the outside, but also what happens inside us. The emancipation of Auschwitz coincided with my own salvation and revelation about the tragedies of life. They began here in Castro Valley. Now, on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, they emerge again here and within the memories and motions of my own life.