A Soulful Journey

In the little museum at the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, the tranquil scenes in the dioramas of ancient American Indian life depict women weaving baskets, cooking, taking care of the children.  In one, the men are standing around staring into the wilderness, often with a dog at their side. I overheard a woman remark how typical it was to see the women doing the work while the men lounged around doing nothing.  The woman was wrong.  Those ancient cliff dwellers weren’t simply doing nothing – they were watching out. Watching out is still a popular pastime in the masculine genes.  What does a small boy do when he climbs a tree?  He watches out!  A grown man leaning against his tractor, seemingly doing nothing, is actually obeying the deep urge to watch out.  Even a boy standing on a street corner or sitting on an apartment stair is doing what nature intended for men to do - watching out.   –Gene H...

Elie Wiesel told of a woman who lived in the Carpathian Mountains during the time of Hitler. She had heard that people in Warsaw rebelling and fighting back. She exclaimed, “They should be quiet not protest. The war will end and everything will be all right.” At this point in his address, Elie Wiesel turned to President Clinton who was sitting on the dais and said, “I have recently visited Bosnia and cannot sleep at night. Why don’t we intervene?  There are those in America today who say we should do nothing about this was the slaughter, just as the woman in the Carpathian Mountains counseled inaction in the face of the Nazis.”  And then Elie Wiesel resumed his story: “This woman never knew that the war against Hitler had come to an end, for she perished with her entire family in Auschwitz.” He paused for a moment and concluded, “That woman which my mother!”