Exile or Mercy? Phase II

This weekend we are supposed to argue the flip side of our personal opinion regarding the article: "Exile or Mercy for old Nazi Guards." This is kind of hard for me to do because I strongly believe that these men should have to suffer the consequences and there is no getting around that. According to Wikipedia (I know...not the best source) and as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, crimes against humanity "are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings." When you do something like this, how can you not pay the consequences?

I mean, I guess that you could say that they are really old and fragile so we should just forget about it. You could say that they did not have a choice and that it was either obey or have your own life taken away. You can even say that the accusations in these three cases are not proven to be true. Who knows....maybe they could have even been set up, but still I'm not buying it.

Exile or Mercy?

While I was reading the article Exile or mercy for old Nazi guards, I could not help but wonder how I would feel, reading this today, if I had lived through this time period. As a Holocaust survivor, I believe that I would feel appalled that people would even have to ask this question. How could you show mercy to those who were even a small part of the greatest genocide of our time? Yes, they are old and fragile now, but does that mean that they are not responsible for their actions because of age? I believe they still are. The only soft spot that I have toward these men is wondering if choosing not to be a part of the Nazi's would have meant giving up their lives instead. I can't even imagine having to decide between my life or the extermination of so many others. We all would like to assume the best in ourselves, but really, which would you choose?

Words by Winston Churchill

"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many long months of toil and struggle.... You ask what is our policy. I will say, it is to wage war with all our might, with all the strength that God can give us, to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.... You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival."----Winston Churchill

This is an excerpt from Winston Churchill's first speech as prime minister. He gave this speech at the House of Commons on May 13,1940. World War II began in 1939, and the United Kingdom was a big part of it. After World War I, I can imagine that Churchill's audience was very skeptical about jumping into a new one. For this reason, Churchill's words come across to me as very powerful and inspiring. He lets the people know exactly what their country had to do and why it is so important for them to do so. He also gives them hope for victory without a doubt. I cannot speak for those listening to this speech that day, but I believe that I would feel more at ease and more inspired than before.

First full week of school!!!!

First blog!... well at least for this class.This is officially the first full week of school guys! As a freshman i am still in the process of figuring out the school (the clubs/student organiations, my way around campus, crazy parking, etc). Personally, i was surprised at how much homework i recieved from being in school just two days last week. Hopefully i will be able to keep up with four books at one time because alot of people love to read and i'm not one of them...jk. If a teacher asks me to talk about a book, hopefully i will pick the right one to explain. How has the first week treated you guys?