[August 2004 journal entry]
Eli Wiesel has asked, “What can he (i.e., the person who has seen into the darkness of human suffering and cruelty) achieve by making you (i.e., the reader/listener) sad?” (See After the Darkness: Reflections on the Holocaust, p. 9.) I would reword this question to say – “ . . . by possibly making you sad?” Not everyone who reads/listens will pause to reflect. Not everyone who reads/listens will be made sad. I think Wiesel’s question is especially serious when the witness to the darkness of human suffering and cruelty takes the initiative (in conversations, in presentations, in publications) to expose readers/listeners.
