My reading this week has taken me from the frying pan into the fire. I'd better be careful with these fiery metaphors because it's easy to be misunderstood or offend when writing about grisly topics such as the Holocaust or lynchings in America. Nevertheless, I'll proceed.
Having just finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I then picked up the new biography of Malcolm X called The Dead are Rising, by Les Payne and his daughter Tamara Payne. Both, in their own ways, are love stories, and that ironic twist makes them even more fascinating to contrast. The latter is also another kind of love story in that Tamara Payne finished the book after the untimely death of her father, Les. For Les Payne, this book was a labor of love that saw him through to the end of his days. He felt so strongly about filling in the gaps from various media distortions over the years, that the book is meticulously researched, hence his near 30 year stretch working on it.
If we look at the overarching themes in these works we see that people devise ways to feel good about themselves and thrive even in the midst of wickedly cruel environments. For one it is the attraction to a beautiful inmate of Auschwitz that keeps his sanity and hope alive despite losing everything as a result of the attempt to erase him from time and memory. The attraction to self-identity and one's own worth and abilities are what helped to motivate the young Malcolm Little in his quest to liberate both himself and his people.
We live now in a time of malaise...when dark forces surround us and it is difficult not to fall into pessimism and depression. These stories help us cope and inspire us with the reminder that the human mind can overcome even the deepest abyss. They are also our stories because they belong to our shared experiences. Who hasn't read of the oppressed without feeling a sense of oppression? I think we both know who.
In this season of giving, these two volumes would make excellent gifts. That is not my purpose here, but they both serve as reminders of the strength of the human will.
Our society and culture seem paralyzed right now. Perhaps that is what is necessary to re-examine our core values and find the common ground so strikingly absent from our national institutions right now.
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