One may wonder how someone can live next to a concentration camp, obtaining there his livelihood and his “luxuries” – which he subjects to the “approval” and “envy” of those he considers close – and act “normal” and even “take pride.” In a recent film, we see the wife of Rudolph Höss, perhaps being the pride of her family due to the position and privileges that her husband had…within the Nazi party.
In the same way, there are archival films of the family of Eva Braun – Adolf Hitler’s partner – enjoying her position within the regime and vacationing a few miles from the death camps.
It is more “chilling” to hear or read some who see a reproduction of that “routine” on the screen and think that it is “boring” and that “nothing happens” there – is this the attitude that, exhibited by the majority, allows those things to happen?
But if we take it a little further, that habitual attitude remains “habitual”, and in some way we all exhibit it. The attitudes that horrify us are only “daily business” or “normality” concentrated in time and space:
In all parts of the world these differences exist and in all parts of the world “tragedies” and exploitation and deprivation happen daily while in other parts others enjoy the result of those deficiencies and there is always a “wall” that “obstructs” the vision – distance, the helplessness of not being able to do “anything” anyway, understanding that it is not really “normal”, but not being able to “feel” anything even when you try…
There are films that seek to portray the unfiltered “habitual” of so-called “developing” regions – or regions whose cultures were “colonised” – and where you clearly see how the cultures with the longest time in that place continue to “sustain” the place in which they live in form of “servitude” on whose shoulders the heads of each nucleus place even the roles that correspond to them as figures of paternal and maternal authority to be “free” to play with their “adult” toys, like “children” – given that they have a solid figure whose attitude represents for those who are growing, the two figures they need to even maintain mental balance.
Curiously, their presences are “hidden”, they are not given any “merit”, the role they play is ignored, and in many places they are not even called by their name – they are the “girl”, or the “lady”. It is not the same but… How many degrees separate that type of treatment from assigning them a number and exploiting them until they are consumed as in “work” camps?
This pattern is perhaps reproduced in some way in each core and can extend to what happens in society-and it is a characteristic that can also be found in various forms throughout global society.
We can also see when a “foreign” influence occurs in these areas in a local circle, automatically, within the local circle someone seeks to be the “representative” of that circle before the “foreigners” – who, even without knowing them or measuring their capabilities or objectives, he assumes that they are “better” and that he will have to answer to them and they will place him in a better position than those whom he considers “equals”, as a “chieftain”.
You can mention this – and if you realise it is an obligation, perhaps not “say it”, but accept it and reflect on it and analyse it – but whoever is within that dynamic and still finds it “comfortable”, will not know what you are talking about.
As if we were facing a “screen” that shows us our true attitude without us being able to perceive it – until the “plot” gradually becomes “bloody”.
And that does not exclude anyone from this attitude. Behind the violent reactions of those who feel they have privileges towards the acquisition of rights of those who traditionally had not, is in part the fear that by giving them “equal” conditions, they will surpass you and try to “control” you – as you would or have made “in their place.”
And it is a “valid” calculation that anyone can understand.
In reality, the automatic feeling that this reflection produces is that it is “impossible” to change our attitude towards others at its “root” – “there will always be someone who only sees for themselves without caring about others and will force us to act the same”, “people don’t change”…or more sophisticated: “we people have no choice”, “that’s how we are, it’s “reality” and we have to accept it”….
A possible translation of these expressions: “I know that we are going in a trend in which this change of attitude will be necessary, but it is not what I want, so I will wait and enjoy while I can, until the change is necessary for me, I will wait for they “forcing” me – like a “child” crossing his arms and throwing himself on the ground, “refusing”, because that is not where he wants to go.
Like looking around and always finding a justification in the fact that “we all” act and calculate in an “equal” way and none of your peers can “judge” you.
That’s true”. “Anyone,” if he could, would agree with each one when thinking like that.
But does that change the trend – which if not changed will surely lead to one or two more world wars?
Does that change anything?
The education we need is one that lets us see on the “screen” before our eyes the details that we do not want to see and guides us towards the change that those details indicate.
But we need a clear example:
You can’t tell someone with academic degrees and awards or “great possessions” and who has a position where they feel they have influence and have achieved something that they need to educate themselves so that they can influence those who see them as an example to follow – they will not listen to you and will disdain you.
You cannot “stamp on someone’s face” something about themselves that they do not yet “see” with the intention and attitude of judging them or placing yourself above them. They will not listen, and will react violently.
Much less do it from blackmail: generating shame around so that they give you what you want – rather it should arise from supporting each other to explore that feeling within oneself.
It is only with a modification of the attitude and feeling towards others that an education can be transmitted that would truly be a triumph of the human will.
Therefore, this practical example, this change in attitude among them is the priority of those who are meant to provide this education. Everything else will not “work.”
There is no point in spending time and resources on “public relations”, no one will listen to your message in which you ask to be treated as “one more”, nor will they be able to identify with your “pain” – if what they need is your example: An authentic change of attitude, at the “root” of our behaviour.
Snakeeskin 