During the years of German occupation of France during World War II, the French "lived in a state of absolute moral anarchy. The only way you knew right from wrong was to examine your conscience. And yet, if you did so - examined your conscience - you found yourself in mortal danger. Examining your conscience was, in effect, a crime. What had been evil was now the law, and what had been good was now punishable by death." More than 60,000 million people had been killed. "Great swaths of civilization lay in ruins..." This is the story of the courageous French Resistance in the small town of Saint-Leon-Sur-Deme. The bravery, determination, and self-sacrifice exhibited by the average citizens serve as an example, a mandate, of the heroism upon which freedom, self-respect, and morality is based. This is an awe-inspiring read and a cautionary tale.
"The personal moral compass is an extremely unreliable instrument. Convenience, opportunism, greed, malice - all these things and more exert a stronger magnetic force than virtue ever could."
No comments:
Post a Comment