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Re: From another conversation...
As I read Andrew's comments I was reminded of the speech Elie Weisel gave,
"The Peril of Indifference." Since the speech is long, I only copied what I
felt were the most pertinent parts...
"Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times
to practice it simply to keep one s sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal
and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?
Rooted in our tradition, some of us felt that to be abandoned by humanity
then was not the ultimate. We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse
than to be punished by Him. Better an unjust God than an indifferent one.
For us to be ignored by God was a harsher punishment than to be a victim of
His anger. Man can live far from God--not outside God. God is wherever we
are. Even in suffering? Even in suffering.
In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being
inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred.
Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony,
have done something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at
the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even
hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You
disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a
response.
Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference
is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor--never his
victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The
political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless
refugees--not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by
offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in
denying their humanity we betray our own."
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