YOU WRITE 'EM WE READ 'EM

Blog number 299 **** 06 May 2009

Sitting in an easy chair in the mall, waiting for my lovely one to finish shopping, I was reading "The Kindly Ones". I think I was lead to the book by an article in "The New Yorker, but I'm not sure. Anyway, a man walking by stopped and asked me if it was a good book. I replied that it was starting to get good, that I had a little trouble with it in the beginning. In fact, I had stopped reading it and was thinking of taking it back to the library, but I got to thinking that the author, since it is a big book, must have had something to say, so I decided to try again. I'm glad I did.

The man who had asked me about the book stated that he had heard about the book on National Public Radio, and the personality that mentioned it said the first hundred pages was hard to get through, but after that it was a wonderful read.

The story is about a Nazi war criminal and how he got to be one. Right in the beginning he philosophies that anyone could have wound up in his place under similar circumstances, which mirrors pretty well my own take on the average human. People are sheep, after all. Pretty much.

He also philosophizes that the animal killing another animal for food does not enjoy the activity as much as the prey abhors it. That the pain one suffers in life does not balance with the joys one experiences.

While killing Jews early in the invasion of Russia, he states, after graphically revealing what is contained in such an endeavor, that although the killers were merely performing a dirty job, the killees were losing everything. Not an even balance.

From the mall, mine wife and I went to Barnes and Nobles. While there I overheard a girl ask a clerk if they had, "The Gift of Fear." I asked her if someone had recommended it to her, she said they did. I said, "Good book."

It's one of those books that should be required reading in High School. It talks about how to use the emotion of fear to guide you away from danger. I am one who insists one should listen to that "still small voice" always, anyhow.