This is a big question for me. What is more likely to be of benefit for us and the world around us? Is it putting our efforts into our individual well-being, which may mean escape from a dangerous situation? Or is it finding a way to work for something more than ourselves, whether alone or in a group?
I think of a hero of mine - Hiltgunt Zassenhaus. She took individual action, not to save herself but for others. She also found a few individuals who helped her in crucial ways. But the outside situation raged on. Still 1200 lives were saved through one of her actions, the culmination of thousands of other actions.
And now, a bunch of situations come to mind.
The situation. You are a Jewish German. The Nazis are targeting the Jews. Kristal Nacht - the night of broken glass. You don’t know what is coming next, but you know it will likely be even worse.
Individual escape. You find some way to avoid what is coming. Perhaps you get enough money together to buy a ticket on the Orient Express, and travel all the way to Shanghai, thousands of miles away. The Nazi regime continues unabated.
Individual escape - even that is a huge challenge. Many people do not find a way to escape. The cost of that train ticket is out of the reach of many people. And many who do manage to get out of Nazi territory don’t find that their escape place is a good one. According to a survivor, many Jews who did make it to Shanghai died not long after arriving from cholera because they only boiled the water, did not boil it for 20 minutes.
But if you find an escape route, you are much more likely to survive.
Now, another situation. By now the Nazis are rounding up the Jews. This time, you are Christian. And this time, instead of seeking an individual solution, you want to help make a better world. Are you a German Christian religious leader talking with others like you to speak out in your churches against what is happening (this did not happen), and perhaps going to the government (this also did not happen)? Are you a Christian religious leader from another country speaking out against what is happening (this also did not happen - or anyway I have not heard of it)? Are you a political person from another country speaking out against what is happening (more silence)? Are you part of a citizen’s group demanding that your government open your country to German Jews needing a place to go (I haven’t heard of this happening - though I have heard of individuals doing individual rescues - including a British Christian who saved over 1000 Jewish children)? Are you someone doing what you can to get Hitler out of office - which, as he is a dictator, will not happen through something like an election (there were in fact something like 25 documented assassination attempts).
On the other hand, here’s the reality of the incredible individual actions of a Christian German - the person I consider a hero I mentioned at the beginning, Hiltgunt Zassenhaus. I often taught her amazing autobiography, Walls, recounting her life from 1933 when she was a schoolgirl and Hitler came to power, to 1945 when World War II ended. She was in Britain on holiday in the summer of 1939, right before the start of the war. No one would have faulted her for staying away. She chose to return to Germany. During the time of the Warsaw ghetto (the area where Polish Jews were locked up), she was given the position of censoring their letters. Every day she smuggled out a handful of letters in her purse. On the edges she would write, SEND FOOD. She continued to take one courageous step after the other - which culminated in her saving the lives of over 1200 prisoners of war. How? Read the book - out of print, but you can find it online. Fabulous woman. Fabulous book.
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With what is going on now, I see so many people aware and concerned but often not knowing what they could do on the social level, except for sending information to like-minded people.
Even in terms of an individual solution, I know many people who haven’t even stocked up on a few durable edibles.
As for organizing groups - not easy, as I know - but some people do succeed with this.
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SO, NOW …
We are all on this one planet.
There are temporary individual solutions. You move to Florida from California.
But in the end, it is one world.
Needed: strong group activation. Like the fire lit in millions of people by the film, Sound of Freedom. Like the fire surfacing through sudden hits like Rich Men North of Richmond and Ain’t Gotta Dollar and Try That in a Small Town.
If Rome is burning, if a fire is raging in Maui, you need to escape the fire. But the ongoing situation continues to exist.
Big question: How do we stop the destruction of our world while protecting ourselves as well as we can.
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In yesterday’s post, 2 individual actions were given.
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Like many people, I will be taking a break from the online world tomorrow. It’s an individual action that comes from people working on the social level, who have been warning us of a potential danger - a supposed test of a system. Will there be anything? An old motto comes to mind: better safe than sorry.
My personal guess: a financial mess is most likely what is biggest on the horizon.
But I don’t know.
All the best to all of us.
Posted Oct 3, 2023
Wonderful article, and my personal answer is to do both. Continue improving your own situation and staying strong, so that you can continue turning to lend others a hand. Network so that you have a group, but don't let that group become too centralized so that it can be taken out overnight.
Thanks again for these important thoughts.
Just as a little aside, there was the amazing German pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.