| Subject: the Cellist of Sarajevo |
| Through an inadvertent slip of the TV remote control, my children and I came upon one of the horrific scenes in Schindlers List one evening. My girls were 4 and 9, and they wanted to know why all those people were screaming. I knew that they would find out someday, so I decided to tell them about the concentration camps myself.
I told them that there is indeed true evil in the world, and that they might even have to confront it someday. As my little girls listened with growing horror to what I had to tell them, I realized that I also needed to give them some kind of reassurance that no matter what, they need never be completely helpless in the face of this kind of evil. I had to give them some kind of defense against it, some kind of tool to help them know that one is never helpless even in a terrible situation.
Like a true blessing the story of this cellist came to my mind (Im so lucky that I had heard of it), and I told them that they were not powerless, even over something so awful.
I said that sometimes all we can do is to let our own little light shine -- ones own inner goodness -- but at least we do have that. At least we can offer to the world whatever we have in ourselves, no matter how big or how small our gift may be. We can at least let our own little lights shine.
And though this new knowledge of evil terrified them, they somehow felt a little stronger, a little less frightened about what they might encounter some day.
From the bottom of my heart I will always thank the courageous soul of this cellist for the hopeful lesson which I was able to teach my little girls, and for letting his light shine. -- MM |
| Posted by: marilyn on 10 Nov. 2009 |
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