Saturday, August 09, 2008

Learning about good in the mists of evil

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn recently died. I was lucky enough to bump into one of his sons years ago in Italy. Since then I've paid attention when Alexandr Solzhenitsyn is mentioned in the news.

Alexandr was an amazing man. He grew up in the worst the Soviet Union had to offer. He served in World War II and at the end of the war he was sentenced to eight years in a labor camp. One of his most famous works, Gulag Archipelago, was based on this grueling experience.

This week the Quotation of the day mailig list recently had quotation:

Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhlemed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.
- Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelago

Alexandr was able to turn to good and at great risk to his life he condemned evil. An impressive feat.


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