From the first word on, I absolutely adored Campbell's and Vogler's works about the hero's journey, knowing, of course, that "hero" could also stand for heroine. And surely, we collected quite a few stories with female lead characters. But we hardly ever come across a wise old woman. From Merlin to Gandalf, or Obi-Wan, or Dumbledore, we have met and learned from so many wise old men having sacrificed themselves to allow their heroes to fulfil their tasks that we just could not imagine a woman in this role. And since the hero's forthcoming solely rests on the wise old man's act, we just know that he will be there, a human deus ex machina.
And here it is, the source of nearly all our problems. We live expecting that our expectations will be fulfilled. If not, we feel empty and betrayed. But if we thought it through, we would know, what is wrong, what has been a lie throughout the history of mankind. There are no wise old men. There never have been, and there never will be. The truth is, most men never even grow up. They become big boys.
Can you see the dilemma? That is why we imagine G'd as a man. We just want to hope for the wise old man. We even killed the few wise old women who were nothing but a threat to our belief. Shame on us.
Tuesday, September 18. 2012
To the Best of My Abilities
Quite some time ago, I had a very dirty job, and I mean, literally dirty. I had to read Nazi files archived by a German authority called Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden in the Federal Land of Hessen. These files were not only literally dirty, that is to say, they were full of decades of dust. They were also absolutely filthy on the inside, since they dealt with the murder or banishment of many Jews.
We were a team of freelancers looking for certain documents in order to pass on valid compensation data to a Jewish organisation.
Even with this horrible working material we had to read, we had to develop some routines since we were short in time. And therefore, one day, I opened the umpteenth file, hurrying from Nazi order to Nazi order, which were getting worse page by page. I browsed through the file and found, amongst other cruelties, the order to call themselves "Sara" or "Israel", to hand over their insurance money or savings, or their silver cutlery.
This time I stopped, reading:"Confiscation of silver goods, including one golden medal." And after that succinct statement, in brackets, I read: "(Nobel Prize)".
My brain did not function for a few seconds. Still rather frozen, I slowly closed the folder and read: "Hedwig Ehrlich".
In this very moment I got hit by a virtual bullet. Those bastards had deprived Paul Ehrlich's widow of her late husband's greatest honour.
One will of course know that this is a minor incident compared to the many, many brutal murders in the Shoa, considering that the Nazi murderers, for once, did not dare to lay their hands on Hedwig Ehrlich. But to me, this experience was so very much significant since it showed the inhumanity as well as the stupidity of this fascist and racist regime and its followers most accurately.
They were vermin stopping at nothing, and so this outrageous confiscation of the honour medal of one of the first German Nobel Prize winners is another very shameful part of German history. A Nobel Prize lost in history. Again, there is nothing to be proud about. And no bank note, or stamp, with Paul Ehrlich's face on it will be able to compensate this absurdity.
To the best of my abilities, I have written down this memory. May it make an impact.
We were a team of freelancers looking for certain documents in order to pass on valid compensation data to a Jewish organisation.
Even with this horrible working material we had to read, we had to develop some routines since we were short in time. And therefore, one day, I opened the umpteenth file, hurrying from Nazi order to Nazi order, which were getting worse page by page. I browsed through the file and found, amongst other cruelties, the order to call themselves "Sara" or "Israel", to hand over their insurance money or savings, or their silver cutlery.
This time I stopped, reading:"Confiscation of silver goods, including one golden medal." And after that succinct statement, in brackets, I read: "(Nobel Prize)".
My brain did not function for a few seconds. Still rather frozen, I slowly closed the folder and read: "Hedwig Ehrlich".
In this very moment I got hit by a virtual bullet. Those bastards had deprived Paul Ehrlich's widow of her late husband's greatest honour.
One will of course know that this is a minor incident compared to the many, many brutal murders in the Shoa, considering that the Nazi murderers, for once, did not dare to lay their hands on Hedwig Ehrlich. But to me, this experience was so very much significant since it showed the inhumanity as well as the stupidity of this fascist and racist regime and its followers most accurately.
They were vermin stopping at nothing, and so this outrageous confiscation of the honour medal of one of the first German Nobel Prize winners is another very shameful part of German history. A Nobel Prize lost in history. Again, there is nothing to be proud about. And no bank note, or stamp, with Paul Ehrlich's face on it will be able to compensate this absurdity.
To the best of my abilities, I have written down this memory. May it make an impact.
Wednesday, November 23. 2011
Nothing new
Some people are stunned, nowadays, that Frank Miller’s most recent graphic novel is racist. Well, face it, folks, this attitude is not new nor hard to believe in any way.
It is rather surprising that there are not more and earlier statements like this. An anti-islamic, and therefore anti-semitic position is one of the pillars western society has been standing on from the beginning. Silence and a tie to a guilty conscience have only muffled this in some places at some times.
The Christian world is literally defined by polemic demarcation towards the other.
It is rather surprising that there are not more and earlier statements like this. An anti-islamic, and therefore anti-semitic position is one of the pillars western society has been standing on from the beginning. Silence and a tie to a guilty conscience have only muffled this in some places at some times.
The Christian world is literally defined by polemic demarcation towards the other.
« previous page
(Page 2 of 17, totaling 67 entries)
next page »
