One hour of life, is still life
By didi13
@didi13 (2926)
Romania
February 27, 2012 4:25am CST
In the book that read these days, Schindler's List - Thomas Kennealy, it is repeatedly the idea that "one hour of life is still life". Are words and told them Jews, sometimes, when they managed to escape or delay an execution.
In the evening I read the first time these words somewhere in the beginning of the book, I was in a moment of disappointment and disgust of life, involvement, fighting, and says that life, so, overall, is fighting futile, clearly unnecessary and all we do is just running to nowhere.
That evening and the night-that followed came back to mind the words of those obsessive - an hour of life is still life - and my mind was shaken and full of images of people tortured and maltreated horrified by people who are struggled, with superhuman effort, to live one hour, one day a month.
Reading this book I feel constrained, somehow caught in a chain of weakness which I do not know how to cope. I feel ashamed of my own powerlessness, claims of mercy and indulgence, to the bitter memory of so many thousand realities. All these days I wondered the same thing - people will feel the value of life only when placed in difficult situations, critical? Life is so great value that struggling to cope with terrible atrocities and feel that life is worth living anyway? And for what? Just to say they are alive and not dead? Just because, living, living and hope that may be, sometime, somehow, right?
2 people like this
9 responses
@kingparker (9673)
• United States
27 Feb 12
Although I didn't read that book, but one hour of life indeed is still life. You just live shorter than other people. Just like those fireflies, and insects, they might live a short lives, but they have glamorous moment of it. For us, we may not live long as we always expected, it depends on how we gonna live our lives to make it glamorous.
@inertia4 (27960)
• United States
2 Mar 12
I never read the book, but I did watch the movie. It was a disturbing movie. But it showed how things were. Now, when it comes to the holocaust, I have seen many documentaries on that. And the thing that bothers me with all of them is that it was not only jews that were killed, but lots of other people also. It was a time when you had a leader, an intelligent one at that, that snapped and went crazy. He himself was half jewish. But, he killed more then jews throughout europe. I hope that one day they actually tell the truth. Here where I am the jews think the world owes them a living and a life. The holocaust was over 50 years ago and those times no longer exist. We all have to move on. Same goes for slavery, those days are over. It seems to me that the jews that live in my neighborhood think, because I look different from them that my ancestors had something to do with the holocaust. I had nothing to do with it and neither did my ancestors. It was the germans who killed all those people. But, I look at it now as something horrible that happened in history. Why do we have to see all these things about the holocaust anymore. I don;t see countless documentaries about 9/11. And to me, in my life time, was a horrible thing to happen. On our land no less. After seeing and hearing all about that disaster, I have become numb to the idea and now means nothing to me.
@mssnow (9484)
• United States
27 Feb 12
That brings to mind the thought of a baby in the womb. Is a baby in the womb alive? Seems to me it is.and just think what they might have become if they were to finish their journey into this life. One hour, one min and even one second of being alive is alive. We all struggle daily with things. Some are not as bad as other but it is still a struggle.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
27 Feb 12
I havent read the book but I have seen the movie Schindler's List several times - I love this movie from Spielberg. Quite a sad but quite true depiction of those horrible times.
You are right, if I look at the ugly side of it, it is quite something which can make me feel ashamed of me being a human... But I look at the positive side of it. Schindler the hero of the movie, does fight for people, and gets to win. This is what I learn from the movie - when there is goodness in anyone, that goodness cannot be constrained. Makes me proud of being a human who has a heart and a mind who, if working together, can make miracles happen, the fate, destiny can be changed and that is what makes Life.
I agree, he started off with his business and it started for his professional gains but by the end, he changed and realized what he could have got right - In real life too we all are under constraints and limitations, mostly take wrong decisions but then when the time comes - if we take the right decision at that time... we understand life better.
@sourabharoy1992 (730)
• India
27 Feb 12
Hello friend!
Its a great thing to discuiss. If you have one hour only of your life its also life. In a one hour you can be memorable.
@magester1 (148)
• Argentina
27 Feb 12
I don't think an hour of life is relevant, what matters is how you live life, not how long.
As you were saying, if you're going to live an hour longer of torture and misery, why bother? I'd rather die right now.
I haven't read that book so I can't really say I know where you're coming from anyway.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
27 Feb 12
Where there is still life in the body, then there is still life to live. So really it is not time to really squander. In fact, if one must go out, it may be with style. But sadly, we never do truly appreciate life in many instances, until it is threatened right before our very eyes. Where our very lives, our very existence is flashing before us.
That is the problem, when it takes a rather prominent shock to get us to accept what is going on, to get us to rather enjoy what life is. And there is some truth, where only when it is hanging in the balance, whether we fall or whether we manage to get a reprieve of some sorts, at least temporarily, where life is just something that is appreciated at its most base form.
@polaris77 (2040)
• Bacau, Romania
27 Feb 12
There are indeed moments when we all are discontent of our lives,but when we read and find out more about those people who were tortured and suffered almost unbearable torments,and yet still had the will to live and struggled to make their life longer at any cost,we realize that our lives are not so bad after all,it is our minds and negative thoughts that give us the impression that life is unfair and cruel with us,but we should feel lucky and thankful that we live in a country where we're free to express ourselves and we don't live with the fear that one day we might be taken away,tortured and even killed.The truth is that the examples of those people who,despite so much suffering,hang on to their lives at any cost should be an example for us and make us appreciate more this wonderful present given to us which is called life.
@WakeUpKitty (8694)
• Netherlands
27 Feb 12
Without hope(s), plans, goals, dreams there is no life. No matter if you are able to work it out, people need it to feel alive.
I don't think you can compare lives with eachother. People are different. Not only if it comes to culture, gender, character, education. What life is worth is personal, what is value is personal too. If you live in a war your biggest goal may be to stay alive, but if you survived this is not enough anymore since you need money to stay alive.. etc.
