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Rachel Lucas posted a disturbing picture the other dayof a Ukrainian Jew kneeling by the side of a mass grave, and a German soldier holding a gun to his head, about to murder him. She also posted links to other disturbing pictures of other Jews awaiting execution. One particularly striking one showed a Jewish woman holding her young children on her lap, waiting their turn.
She then said she was "trying to figure out how to use my life in such a way that I can help prevent another photograph like the one above ever being possible again."
These images have stayed with me, and the question she poses - how do we ensure this never happens again - haunts me.
My answer came to me today.
I will never submissively kneel at the edge of a mass grave awaiting my own execution. I will never hold my children in my lap, awaiting murder.
There will not be a picture taken of me like that. The picture taken of me would show some last, desparate, futile attempt to at least "take one of them with me." If I could do no more than bruise my murderer's shin, or bloody his nose, I would do so. I would send my 2 year old son charging at his murderer to bite, scratch, kick, pinch - whatever he could do.
It is nobler and better to die on your feet than to live (or die) on your knees. I'm committed to passing that on to my kids. Some things are just worth dying for.
That last, valiant, noble blow is the epitome of asserting one's dignity. And that will ensure this happens never again.
Posted by Robert at March 15, 2003 05:47 PM | TrackBack