Etty Hillesum - 'I Cannot Hate Others'
I am not easily frightened.. Not because I am brave but because I know that I am dealing with human beings and that I must try as hard as I can to understand everything that anyone ever does. And that was the real import of this morning, not that a disgruntled young Gestapo officer yelled at me but that I felt no indignation, rather a real compassion and I would have liked to ask" Did you have a very unhappy childhood? has your girlfriend let you down? " ......Yes, he looked harassed and driven, sullen and weak. I should have liked to start treating him then and therefor I know that pitiful men like that are dangerous as soon as they are let loose on mankind. But all the blame must be put on the system that uses such people. What needs eradicating is the evil in man, not man himself. Something else about this morning: the perception, very strongly borne in, that despite all the suffering and injustice, I cannot hate others. All the appalling things that happen are no mysterio...