English 151
8-6-10
Justice and Forgiveness
When I started reading The Sunflower, I never thought it would actually touch me on a personal level. What I mean is, I usually don’t pay much attention to history, but reading this, I found out the difference between justice and forgiveness, from the Holocaust. I also found how complex justice and forgiveness really is. Simon said “A superman has asked a subhuman to do something which is superhuman. If you had forgiven him, you would never have forgiven yourself all your life” (66). That quote is meant for forgiveness, but it sounded like both, forgiveness and justice.
Josek said “Such torment is only a small part of his punishment” (66). I think when he said that, it was out of spite of anger. I don’t think he was really thinking about forgiveness as much as he was thinking about justice. He wanted the Nazi soldier to die because he thought he deserved to pay for what he did. If Josek, was in the Nazi soldier shoes, what would he of done? Would he kill other lives, instead of just taking his? Would he say no, and stand up for what is right?
These are all questions, when you decided what the difference between justice and forgiveness is. Eva Fleischner, a professor, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (140). When she says that, it got me thinking. How could the dying Nazi, ask for forgiveness, when the people he should be asking for forgiveness is dead because of him. Who makes the choice of forgiveness? I don’t think anybody can ever speak for someone else’s believes. Most of the Jews would probably say, he deserves to die, but there’s a chance some of them could be forgiving.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, a philosopher, “According to Jewish tradition, even god himself can only forgive sins committed against himself, not against man” (171). Even god can’t answer for other people; he can only answer for himself. I completely agree with this statement because your voice is not other person decisions. If this man came up to me asking for forgiveness for what he did to others, I think I would probably just be silent. How can speak for other people, when you might not even know what they are feeling.
The limits on forgiveness are you’re our options. What I mean by that is how much you think you can handle with the pain. Also, if you think forgiving would help your own personal beliefs. For your own self, forgiving might be the only way to live your live. I am not saying your ever forget about it but at least you can say I forgive the Nazi for my own beliefs. The possibilities on forgiveness are endless, if you let them. If you think it’s possible to forgive someone that has done you wrong, than I think you should. I think forgiving someone that has made you miserable, would be the greatest thing you could ever do.
I think if the Nazi soldier came to me and ask for forgiveness, I would probably say nothing. If I saw him kill my entire family right in front of me, I would want him dead. But when I found out he was killing to stay alive, I could respect that. Even though he killed my entire family, he was doing it to protect his life. If I was in his position, I would not kill anybody because who decides who more important. I would fight back to save my family because that’s what you do for the people you care about.
The reason this part of these part of the book got to me more than the rest was because it made me think if I was in that situation. I do think what Simon did was right, because he did what he thought was right. He couldn’t speak for others because he really didn’t know what the innocent Jews wanted. He might have had a general ideal, but I think he thought they had the right to tell the Nazi how they felt. So when Simon just looked at him and just let me die, I thought it was a very good trade.
Work Cited
Wiesenthal, Simon, Harry J. Cargas, and Bonny V. Fetterman. The Sunflower: On the
Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. New York: Schocken, 1997.