"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." "Not to transmit an experience is to betray it." "Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds." "I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again." "I write to understand as much as to be understood." |
DIRECTIONS: Affirmation and encouragement are a plus, but remember that the bulk of your posts and responses to one another should address the subject matter of the week and its impact on your learning. In the pre-writing stage, you are advised to use KWL charts (What you knew. What you wanted to know. What you learned.), your daily reflection journals, and tree maps to generate and organize your content. Remember that you must Tell. Tell. Tell. Type your draft into a Word Document. Edit for focus and conventions (spelling and grammar). Then, and ONLY THEN, post. Each time you write an entry, consider the above quotes of Elie Wiesel, survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp. How are your words combating genocide? How are they attaining the quality of deeds? How are you gaining understanding...being understood? ***As it is an academic site, this is not a forum for evangelizing or criticizing the faith of others. Respect for diversity is to be adhered to at all times. |
There were many deep discussions that happened this week in class, along with a few new impacting books. Out of everything that we have been talking about or reading however, reading the Sunflower, talking about the affirmative and opposition, and thinking about what I would do have been most impacting.
Reading the Sunflower has been a different experience for me. It has an interesting way of drawing me in. With most everything else we have been reading, I have had the same general idea of what was going to happen (to those in a concentration or labor camp anyway). With this book, however, it has been something different. I haven’t read this book before, so I didn’t have an idea of what was going on, because I didn’t read the back of the book either, so when the NAZI officer started to…confess, I was a bit shocked. I didn’t know how to react, and he wasn’t even apologizing to me. Something that has been helping me think about it, is discussing the different sides as to whether or not the NAZI officer should have been forgiven or not. I was really glad that I got to read with Borders because she was able to see things from many different angles than from what I was seeing at times. We had many discussions, and in turn did not read all of the pages we were supposed to, but I feel like I have a much better understanding of the reasons for forgiving or not because of it. So, obviously, we have been reading The Sunflower, thinking about forgiveness and whether or not the NAZI officer should be forgiven. I have begun to think about what I would do. If I had to suffer through torment, experience torture, and walk through an ocean of loathing, what would I do? The NAZIs killed over 6 million people, many of which had to go through torture; women, men, boys, girls, invalids, the weak were all killed. They had their rights taken away, their freedoms, their families, and their lives. I don’t believe it would be too easy to just “forgive.” In the end, I had a very thought-provoking week. Reading The Sunflower, talking about the affirmative and opposition, and thinking about what I would do, have all been impacting because of how significant they are. |
Josh, when the Nazi officer asked for forgiveness I had the same reaction as you; except I knew that it was coming. Nonetheless I still didn't know what to think about it. I think I enjoy this book a little more than the others we've read because it's not like anything that we've ever read before, and I'm sure we won't hear about many cases of a Nazi officer being kind or apologizing to a Jew. This book has also made me think about what I would do if I were Simon, but we have obviously figured out that there really is no right or wrong answer to it; at least I don't think there is anyway. |
