COMMENTARY: Giving Thanks (in spite of everything)

“People often ask me if I’ve lost my faith in humanity.”

So stated Dr. Jacob Eisenbach on Thursday, Nov. 9 - the 79th anniversary of the horrific anti-Jewish bloodbath known as Kristallnacht - while addressing a standing-room-only crowd in the ballroom at Hotel Petaluma. A 96-year-old survivor of the Holocaust, the Polish-born Eisenbach had just relayed the devastating details of how he lost nearly every member of his family to the Nazis and to post-war antisemitism. It’s a harrowing story, one highlighting some of the worst and cruelest behaviors human beings can and do practice on one another.

As an answer to the question, Eisenbach described the response of Norway’s King Christian X to Germany’s occupation of his country during WWII, secretly helping to orchestrate to hiding and escape to Sweden of 7,000 Danish Jews, saving all but a few of his countrymen from the fate suffered by many of Eisenbach’s family.

“How can I lose faith in humanity,” the soft-spoken retired dentist concluded, “when there are still people in this world who will do such things to save others, putting their own lives at risk to do it?”

It’s a question worth pondering.

As our newsfeeds fill daily with reports of mass shootings, terrorist attacks, hate crimes, sexual harassment, and senseless violence, it can sometimes seem logical to conclude that humans are a broken species, one doomed to destroy itself eventually.

Till we remember stories like the one Eisenbach told his audience last week.

And now it’s Thanksgiving, to be followed by a whole series of winter holidays, all constructed to celebrate our mutual sense of humanity and goodness and peace on Earth. In other words, it’s a great time to recall such stories as Eisenbach’s, be they told in person or through various other artistic expression or performance. Thus inspired, we reached out to local readers, and from their suggestions we have compiled a list of books, music, movies, plays and more, all of which contain the power - for some of us, anyway – to restore, renew and repair our own oft-bruised faith in humanity.

MOVIES

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

It may be a cliché, but this 1946 fantasy - in which troubled Everyman George Bailey, with the help of a wingless angel named Clarence, learns what the world would be like had he never been born - still has a profound ability to remind us of the resilience of goodness and essential decency of at least some of our human beings. Yes, there will always be Old Mr. Potters to plague us, and daunting responsibilities which require us to delay and sacrifice some of our dreams.

But “It’s a Wonderful Life,” from the glorious sight of Zuzu’s petals in George Bailey’s pocket to the parade of generous neighbors filling his house with love at the end of the film, you’d have to be a real Mr. Potter not to feel a glimmer of warmth, hope and strength by the time the credits roll, and Clarence finally gets his wings.

Says singer-guitarist Craig Corona, “I find that the movie makes me feel that the adage ‘No good deed goes unpunished’ is not necessarily so. You can be giving of yourself, be a good person, and in the end, know that you have made a difference.”

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Another popular suggestion – sent in by Mary Wolfe - 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning 1960 novel, is among the most inspiring depictions of moral strength and all-around human decency ever put on film. Told through the eyes of six-year-old Scout, watching as her father, Atticus Finch, calmly and persistently stands up to the forces of bigotry and hate, always leading with kindness and courtesy in the face of anger, derision and cruelty, it’s the kind of story that makes those of us who watch it instantly want to become a better person.

SCHINDLER’S LIST

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Holocaust drama is another example of putting other people’s lives ahead of personal safety. The true story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who helped save over a thousand Polish Jews during WWII, by hiding their identity in plain sight as workers in his factories, then helping to smuggle them to safety.

“”Schindler’s List” would be my first choice,” says Petaluma’s Bob Canning.

But there’s another.

“To me, “Casablanca” is a classic for many reasons,” he says. “The scene when everyone – French, American, British – stands together and sings the “Marseilles.” It always gives me goosebumps.”

Other movie suggestions: “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Brother From Another Planet,” “Antonia’s Line,” “Monsters, Inc.” and, um, “The Blues Brothers.” Says Aline O’Brien, “It doesn’t restore my faith in humanity, per se, but when I’m not feeling great, I watch both “Blues Brothers” movies.”

MUSIC

EVERYBODY HURTS by R.E.M.

Release in 1992 on the band’s “Automatic for the People” album, “Everybody Hurts” is one of those songs that helps people heal by reminding them that they are not alone. Written largely by R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry, with soaring strings arrangement by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, the song was chosen by Simon Cowell for a fundraising recording following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Closer to home, the song was performed at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Santa Rosa, the first Sunday service after the recent fires, and as vocalist Cathleen Read – a therapist who works with veterans – powerfully interpreted the lyrics, it became a remarkably stirring anthem of pain and resolve for those who’d just lost so much.

The lyrics include the verse:

“When your day is long,

And the night,

The night is yours alone,

When you’re sure you’ve had enough,

Of this life,

Well hang on,

Don’t let yourself go,

‘Cause everybody cries,

And everybody hurts sometimes.”

“Yes, it’s a big old cheesy song,” says Ellen Skagerberg, who was there to witness Read’s soul-stirring rendition, “but it’s a generous song.”

RISE UP

Sandra Day’s iconic performance of “Rise Up,” another indelibly uplifting song - written by Cassandra Batie – was often listed as a tune people listen to when they need a boost of faith and resilience. L.C. Arisman says she has the song on a “depression playlist” that also includes “Come Fly With Me,” Motown classics, and Early Dixie Chicks.

ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING OF ‘COME FROM AWAY’

Written by Irene Sankhoff and David Hein, “Come From Away” is a musical about the residents of Gander, a tiny town of 7,000, on the Canadian island of Newfoundland. They found their population doubling for five days when the September 11 attacks diverted 38 airliners to the remote island, after U.S. airspace was closed. The funny, sad, inspiring Broadway musical is about as good a way to be reminded of the inherent goodness of regular people as any show ever staged on Broadway. That’s in part because the heroic hospitality shown by the citizens of Gander, who invited thousands scared and grieving strangers into their homes and lives, is an entirely achievable kind of heroism for the rest of us regular folks. In fact, with Petaluma having become a version of Gander during the aforementioned fires – embracing “come from aways” who were evacuated to our town – one could say that such “heroic hospitality” is more than just achievable. It can become a way of life.

Other music suggestions: Beethoven’s op. 131 for string quartet, Dvorak’s 7th Symphony, “Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha,” “Happy,” Thelonious Monk and Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, Sadko: Song of the Indian Guest, and anything by Leonard Cohen.

BOOKS

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

A 1942 philosophical essay by Albert Camus, the work introduced Camus’ theory of the absurd, essentially a view of the world in which strength is derived from our acceptance that existence is meaningless and events are random. Apparently, reading “The Myth of Sisyphus” restores musician Renee De La Prade’s faith in humanity as much as reading “The Tao of Physics” by Fritjof Capra, Peter S. Beagle’s “The Last Unicorn” and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books.?Says De Le Prade, “They are funny and often very feminist in a goofy way. Such a contrast with Tolkein, where the female characters might as well be scenery. Instead, it’s high adventure, cynicism, philosophy, and oodles of jokes. With female characters who are just as interesting as the men.”

Also suggested: When asked for books that restore one’s faith in humanity, it’s surprising how many of them are children’s books. Suggested were, “A Wrinkle in Time,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “The Harry Potter series, and Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” and “Sweet Thursday.”

OTHER

The final word comes from Amada McTigue, who writes to say her own faith in humanity was restored when she went to see Holocaust survivor Dr. Jacob Eisenbach tell his story at Hotel Petaluma. (And with that we come full circle).

Says McTigue, “His ready answers to how he can still believe in humanity taught me something. The profound, subtle distinction between forgiveness and, as he said, “turning your enemy into your ally.”

(Contact David Templeton at david.templeton@arguscourier.com)