Bring out yer dead!

Dialectic Journal #3 for Night, by Elie Wiesel


"'Throw out all the dead! All corpses outside!' The living rejoiced. The would be more room. Volunteers set to work. They felt those who were still crouching. 'Here's one! Take him!' They undressed him, the survivors avidly sharing out his clothes then two 'gravediggers' took him, one by the head and one by the feet, and threw him out of the wagon like a sack of flour."

I don't believe it! This is even worse than Monty Python's Holy Grail! There's one scene in that movie when everyone brings out the people who died overnight, and then there was a guy who didn't want to let his father go. But in this book, people were rejoicing that the dead were being thrown out of the train! They seriously didn't have anything, not even space to move or air to breathe! They were so deprived of everything that they were happy people were dying, because it means more space and more clothing to warm up from the snow. And they were on that train for three days! In the end, out of 100 people on Wiesel's wagon, only twelve survived. I don't believe that the SS can let people die so easily and not even show any compassion. This is as dark as it gets. But if we never contemplate what happened during the Holocaust, we wouldn't ever care about the duality of the world.

An Observation Everyone Should Make.

Dialectic Journal #2 for Night, by Elie Wiesel

"Yes, man is very stong, greater than God. When You were decieved by Adam and Eve, You drove them out of Paradise. When Noah's generation displeased You, You brought down the Flood. When Sodom no longer found favor in Your eyes, You made the sky rain down fire and sulphur. But these men here, whom You have betrayed, whom You have allowed to be tortured, butchered, gassed, burned, what do they do? They pray before You! They praise Your name!"

Through the old Testament, God can seem even more sinister than man (which is why Wiesel must have said that man was greater). And then, during World War Two, there is nothing that the Jews even did wrong! Even if there is such thing as the Justice of God, then why is the "punishment" on the Jews instead of the Nazis? Something here isn't right. Is it true that God is love? If he is, then he can't be fear as well! You cant be good AND evil! The Jews are praising God while all of these things are happening! If I believed that God was doing this to the Jews, I would find no reason to believe in him. WWII looks like Hell on Earth, and Elie Wiesel's point here is a very strong and important one. I believe that everyone should seek the answer to this statement.

Is Punishment Love?

Dialectic Journal #1 for Night, by Elie Wiesel

"Some talked of God, of his mysterious ways, of the sins of the Jewish people, and of their future deliverance. But I had ceased to pray. How I sympathized with Job! I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted his absolute justice.
Akiba Drumer said: 'God is testing us. He wants to find out whether we can dominate our base instincts and kill the Satan within us. We have no right to despair. And if he punishes us relentlessly, it's a sign that He loves us all the more.'"

Concentration camps would seriously force you to think through your religious belief systems. Babies being thrown into fire, daily beatings, and total manipulation. To them, it's God saying, "I'll beat the hell out of you, but I love you more than you think." Isn't that a little twisted? Seeing God as the ruler of the universe must mean that Satan is God the Father as well. So much punishment and pain can be experienced in this world, and it makes you wonder how involved God really is in the world. This book, if taken from the stance of Wiesel and his fellow Jews, makes you not only afraid of the world, but afraid of God. It is hard for them to blame God for being so ruthless, but they can't deny that God is involved in it. It is not pleasant at all for me to imagine living and thinking like they did at the time of the Holocaust.

Perils of Indifference

"What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? 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?"

I agree with Wiesel when he questions if indifference should be seen as a virtue, since there is no situation when it is helpful. However, I don't think that is sinful, since making decisions should be only for the individual. No one is called to do anything, but when someone acts with indifference, they must know that they made a mistake if they feel guilty. It is not an evil thing to do, but one might feel that way if they they take this action (I mean, inaction). Condemnation towards those who act indifferently is not right to do either; anger and hate is basically the same thing as feeling guilty anyway. It is best if these emotions are never experienced because they are never positive and never feel good in the long run. Indifference is not positive, but should not be looked on as negative because this will provoke condemnation towards those who act indifferently.