Comments on: An Unlikely Encounter http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/ Listen to stories on anything from honeymoons to WWII, from award-winning journalists to first-time writers alike, from anywhere in the world. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:58:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: mike g.(retired corrections officer) http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-36637 Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:22:12 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-36637 This is truely a treasure,It is a well written and spoken story.Thank you for shareing this.I look forward to the day that hatred ends in all fashions.What is done cannot be undone and as long as the lessons of the past are never repeated that is a Great thing. This is truely a treasure,It is a well written and spoken story.Thank you for shareing this.I look forward to the day that hatred ends in all fashions.What is done cannot be undone and as long as the lessons of the past are never repeated that is a Great thing.

]]> by: Terry Licia Reed http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-2346 Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:57:01 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-2346 I just read the story again - after four months. I still love it. I choose THIS story to be my favorite. Will it be published in any anthology soon? Have you tried? Want to try with me? I'd love to include this story with a book of other moving, but not sappy, short stories - somehow, someway soon. We have too few - and they sell so well at airports! :-) And Euro train stations if translated! ESPECIALLY there, because of the subject matter. I'm glad I came back and reread it. I'm glad it's still here! I just read the story again - after four months. I still love it. I choose THIS story to be my favorite. Will it be published in any anthology soon? Have you tried? Want to try with me? I’d love to include this story with a book of other moving, but not sappy, short stories - somehow, someway soon. We have too few - and they sell so well at airports! :-) And Euro train stations if translated! ESPECIALLY there, because of the subject matter.

I’m glad I came back and reread it. I’m glad it’s still here!

]]> by: Zelda http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-1298 Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:56:53 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-1298 There is no doubt that you are a talented writer, Marilyn. You told the story well. While I agree, in principal, with the lofty declarations of many the commentators that we should not judge a whole people by the actions of the few, and how good it is to forgive, blah, blah, on this subject I cannot comply with my principals. I will never visit Germany. I never buy a product made in Germany. I cringe when I hear a German accent. I will never understand how the people of Germany (and the people in other countries who happily cooperated with them) could have been so horribly brutal as to round up millions of Jews, ship them, like cattle, to ghastly camps to be tortured and killed. I am not Jewish, but I am human! No human should be treated like that. No human should treat another human like that. I will never understand why so many people in the world are anti-Semitic. The Jews have contributed immeasurably (and disproportionately) to science, medicine, music, literature and entertainment (especially comedy, go figure). And yet, they have been relentlessly persecuted for thousands of years. Call me a hypocritical bigot if you wish, but if it had been I in "Regents Park this past July," I would have told Kurt to go to Hell. There is no doubt that you are a talented writer, Marilyn. You told the story well. While I agree, in principal, with the lofty declarations of many the commentators that we should not judge a whole people by the actions of the few, and how good it is to forgive, blah, blah, on this subject I cannot comply with my principals. I will never visit Germany. I never buy a product made in Germany. I cringe when I hear a German accent. I will never understand how the people of Germany (and the people in other countries who happily cooperated with them) could have been so horribly brutal as to round up millions of Jews, ship them, like cattle, to ghastly camps to be tortured and killed. I am not Jewish, but I am human! No human should be treated like that. No human should treat another human like that. I will never understand why so many people in the world are anti-Semitic. The Jews have contributed immeasurably (and disproportionately) to science, medicine, music, literature and entertainment (especially comedy, go figure). And yet, they have been relentlessly persecuted for thousands of years. Call me a hypocritical bigot if you wish, but if it had been I in “Regents Park this past July,” I would have told Kurt to go to Hell.

]]> by: Jane S. http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-953 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:01:52 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-953 Marilyn, I think you have an amazing talent and should keep writing from your heart, because what comes from the heart touches the heart. Your piece touched my heart and made me remmeber this poem about forgiveness by John Greenleaf Whittier. I think true forgiveness frees the heart to be more open and compassionate. Forgiveness My heart was heavy, for its trust had been Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong; So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men, One summer Sabbath day I strolled among the green mounds of the village burial place; Where, pondering how all human love and hate Find on sad level- and how, soon or late, Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face, And cold hands folded over a still heart, Pass the green threshold of our common grave, Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart, Awed for myself, and pitying my race, Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave, Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave! Marilyn, I think you have an amazing talent and should keep writing from your heart, because what comes from the heart touches the heart. Your piece touched my heart and made me remmeber this poem about forgiveness by John Greenleaf Whittier. I think true forgiveness frees the heart to be more open and compassionate.

Forgiveness

My heart was heavy, for its trust had been
Abused, its kindness answered with foul wrong;
So, turning gloomily from my fellow-men,
One summer Sabbath day I strolled among
the green mounds of the village burial place;
Where, pondering how all human love and hate
Find on sad level- and how, soon or late,
Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face,
And cold hands folded over a still heart,
Pass the green threshold of our common grave,
Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart,
Awed for myself, and pitying my race,
Our common sorrow, like a mighty wave,
Swept all my pride away, and trembling I forgave!

]]> by: Ronald John Vierling http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-880 Wed, 13 Dec 2006 03:45:07 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-880 I had the pleasure of meeting and coming to admire Marilyn at Yad Vashem Institute, Jerusalem, where we were both summer students in 1989. I am not surprised that she would have such an experience; her demeanor says to the world "I am ready to listen; I am ready to trust you are telling me the truth." I am not at all surprised that, given her exceptional intelligence and sensitivity, an unusual combination in this too-polorized world, she would truly try to hear both what her stranger was saying to her and what she was trying to hear herself say to herself. Marilyn is animated by a measured mind, a profoundly conscious mind, traits I admire. That she is also a superb writer, who can translate her experience into what constitues a fine episodic account, should surprise no one who knows her writing in the past. In the end, then, while I assume she has garnered some negative responses from Jews who find her moving narration--which is really a portrait of her capacity to be at least a sympathetic ear (do not confuse sympathy with agreement)--I for one am pleased she not only allowed herself the moment but that she then mustered up the courage to tell the tale. I trust Marilyn will continue to write and reflect not only on this experience, I trust she will continue to write and reflect on any other experiences out of which she has gleaned the kind of humane insights that this story offers. Ronald Vierling I had the pleasure of meeting and coming to admire Marilyn at Yad Vashem Institute, Jerusalem, where we were both summer students in 1989. I am not surprised that she would have such an experience; her demeanor says to the world “I am ready to listen; I am ready to trust you are telling me the truth.” I am not at all surprised that, given her exceptional intelligence and sensitivity, an unusual combination in this too-polorized world, she would truly try to hear both what her stranger was saying to her and what she was trying to hear herself say to herself. Marilyn is animated by a measured mind, a profoundly conscious mind, traits I admire. That she is also a superb writer, who can translate her experience into what constitues a fine episodic account, should surprise no one who knows her writing in the past. In the end, then, while I assume she has garnered some negative responses from Jews who find her moving narration–which is really a portrait of her capacity to be at least a sympathetic ear (do not confuse sympathy with agreement)–I for one am pleased she not only allowed herself the moment but that she then mustered up the courage to tell the tale. I trust Marilyn will continue to write and reflect not only on this experience, I trust she will continue to write and reflect on any other experiences out of which she has gleaned the kind of humane insights that this story offers. Ronald Vierling

]]> by: Andrew http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-767 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:45:56 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-767 A great story that requires an open-mind to experience, and draw lessons from. A great story that requires an open-mind to experience, and draw lessons from.

]]> by: Tommy Vigil http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-761 Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:14:32 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-761 We brave our hearts to the world so that we can find love and forgivness, first in ourselves and then in others. Thank you for your story. A new hope is born. We brave our hearts to the world so that we can find love and forgivness, first in ourselves and then in others. Thank you for your story. A new hope is born.

]]> by: Toni Lawrence http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-758 Tue, 05 Dec 2006 22:35:10 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-758 Ms. Millstone has written a lovely story about the idea that, despite the atrocities the German regime performed on people of all nationalities, there is a need to move past the hatred and see each person as an individual. As a descent of German immigrants, I know for a fact that not all Germans were committed to the ideas of Hitler. Most were compassionate and kind people. As in any society, there are people who blindly believe the rhetoric their government reeps upon them. We have that here in the United States - take for example the racism that still exists today. Soldiers often do things they are ordered to do, much against their own moral values. We do not know what this gentle old man was thinking at the time, but we now see a kind soul who proclaims his regret for his part in the crimes of his country. We need to look for the good in people. Each of us has that to offer. It will not make up for the sins of the past, but it works wonders in preventing the same thing in the future. Hate of a race or country is not only short-sited, but continues to propogate and feed the evil that caused the hate in the first place. Hated of the Jews is no different than hating the Germans for what their officials did. Individuals, albiet many, committed those crimes - not an entire nation. Ms. Millstone has written a lovely story about the idea that, despite the atrocities the German regime performed on people of all nationalities, there is a need to move past the hatred and see each person as an individual.

As a descent of German immigrants, I know for a fact that not all Germans were committed to the ideas of Hitler. Most were compassionate and kind people. As in any society, there are people who blindly believe the rhetoric their government reeps upon them. We have that here in the United States - take for example the racism that still exists today.

Soldiers often do things they are ordered to do, much against their own moral values. We do not know what this gentle old man was thinking at the time, but we now see a kind soul who proclaims his regret for his part in the crimes of his country.

We need to look for the good in people. Each of us has that to offer. It will not make up for the sins of the past, but it works wonders in preventing the same thing in the future.

Hate of a race or country is not only short-sited, but continues to propogate and feed the evil that caused the hate in the first place. Hated of the Jews is no different than hating the Germans for what their officials did. Individuals, albiet many, committed those crimes - not an entire nation.

]]> by: Lynda O"Sullivan http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-723 Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:26:59 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-723 Wow. Remind me not to go on a cross-country bus trip with Ms. Kamins. I thought Ms. Millstone's article was deliberately ambiguous--indeed, there was a lot left unsaid and I could not tell what her ultimate judgment of this man might have been. In that sense, the article functions as a sort of Rohrshach test on which people can project themselves. I find it interesting that Ms. Kamins would lash out at Ms. Millstone as a "weakling" simply because she was open to the possiblility that not everyone in Kurt's shoes was a bad person. I agree with the previous writer (Ms. Clark) that demonization of an entire people allows us to deny the inherent amiguity and possiblity for evil within seemingly ordinary folks--and within ourselves. I for one want to thank Ms. Millstone for being willing to take a look at a person as an individual despite the fact that she very clearly didn't want to. That, to me, was an act of courage and the world would be a better place if we all tried to do the same. Wow. Remind me not to go on a cross-country bus trip with Ms. Kamins. I thought Ms. Millstone’s article was deliberately ambiguous–indeed, there was a lot left unsaid and I could not tell what her ultimate judgment of this man might have been. In that sense, the article functions as a sort of Rohrshach test on which people can project themselves.

I find it interesting that Ms. Kamins would lash out at Ms. Millstone as a “weakling” simply because she was open to the possiblility that not everyone in Kurt’s shoes was a bad person. I agree with the previous writer (Ms. Clark) that demonization of an entire people allows us to deny the inherent amiguity and possiblity for evil within seemingly ordinary folks–and within ourselves.

I for one want to thank Ms. Millstone for being willing to take a look at a person as an individual despite the fact that she very clearly didn’t want to. That, to me, was an act of courage and the world would be a better place if we all tried to do the same.

]]> by: Susan Clark http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-722 Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:37:32 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/11/13/an-unlikely-encounter/#comment-722 The demonization of Germans concerns me--and that's not because I think they're necessarily nicer than anyone else. I think when we demonize the people who commit atrocities, we are trying to disguise the fact that all human beings are capable of them, and that we have to be careful not to become those people. People who would never say anything unkind to your face are perfectly capable of having you put to death if it's part of their job, and they never have to see you. If we insist that Hitler, and everyone who supported him, had horns and two tails, we will never recognize the next Hitler, because he, too, will probably be an average-looking man who's nice to dogs and has a talent for demagoguery. The Waffen SS was staffed by earnest young men who thought they were doing their jobs, although probably with an occasional sadist or sociopath thrown in. The German Army was full of young men, some of whom died, but some of whom became old men, who had average lives because they were average people. They were all human beings, and they all had stories, and I think it took a great act of courage, generosity, and love to recognize that this old man, too, was a human being with a story. The demonization of Germans concerns me–and that’s not because I think they’re necessarily nicer than anyone else. I think when we demonize the people who commit atrocities, we are trying to disguise the fact that all human beings are capable of them, and that we have to be careful not to become those people. People who would never say anything unkind to your face are perfectly capable of having you put to death if it’s part of their job, and they never have to see you.

If we insist that Hitler, and everyone who supported him, had horns and two tails, we will never recognize the next Hitler, because he, too, will probably be an average-looking man who’s nice to dogs and has a talent for demagoguery. The Waffen SS was staffed by earnest young men who thought they were doing their jobs, although probably with an occasional sadist or sociopath thrown in.

The German Army was full of young men, some of whom died, but some of whom became old men, who had average lives because they were average people. They were all human beings, and they all had stories, and I think it took a great act of courage, generosity, and love to recognize that this old man, too, was a human being with a story.

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