Beautiful places, challenging thoughts, critical reviews
Im Rahmen des von verschiedenen Schweizer Medien organisierten Projekt “Die Schweiz spricht”, das Begegnungen mit politisch Andersdenkenden fördern wollte, habe ich mich heute mit JP zum Austausch getroffen.
JP und ich haben uns 2,5 Stunden lang bei einer schönen Reusswanderung unterhalten. Die Begegnung war sehr offen und gegenseitig respektvoll. Hier einige unserer Gesprächsthemen:
Continue reading “Die Schweiz sprach”
This is an amazing book, the first of the Century Trilogy. It is superbly researched and masterly written. We follow the events leading up to WWI through the eyes of several interrelated characters, from America, Great Britain, Germany and Russia. Continue reading “Fall of Giants by Ken Follett”
Flame in the Night by Heather Munn is a captivating drama about the resistance movement in occupied France during WWII. Teenage scouts conceal Jewish children from the Gestapo in remote farms, attics, treetops and caves. Meanwhile, all around them everyday life continues as usual: cultivating vegetables, going to school, shovelling snow, attending church.
An informer, working for the compromising Vichy government, takes up residence in the village. Injured German soldiers from the Eastern front arrive to recuperate. The pastor and his assistant encourage the faithful to practise nonviolent resistance. Together they establish a network of helpers, which enables many Jewish children from Poland or Germany, whose parents have been deported to concentration camps, to go into hiding or to take on new identities and mingle with the locals. However, some of the village lads join the underground armed Maquis. And so the agonising questions of conscience keep surfacing.
The prime player in this story are Julien Losier, the eighteen-year-old son of an earnest French Protestant family. His counterpart is Elisa Schulmann (renamed Elise Fournier), the sixteen-year-old daughter of strict German Jewish parents. You guessed: they fall for each other. But this is no traditional romance. It’s all about the heart-searching questions of faithfulness to one’s upbringing, responsibilities and convictions, of ethical dilemmas, and the tormenting yearning for God to reveal Himself amid all this suffering.
Various subplots spice up the narrative. Benjamin fails in his attempt to sneak across the border into Switzerland. Pastor Alexandre and Julien’s father are incarcerated, which provokes the nervous breakdown of his mother. How can two teenagers be expected to cope in such a situation?
This book is superbly written throughout. Munn captures not only the sinister events and accompanying inner struggles, but also vividly describes the harsh scenery and dramatic changes of season, as well as the practicalities of life in a siege situation. One particularly strong feature is the masterly and very realistic use of cropped remarks in tense dialogue exchanges, to hint at things the speaker doesn’t dare to express in words.
Although laced with suspense, this book is not for those seeking an action-packed, racy war thriller. Rather, it will appeal to serious readers, who are willing to come to grips with difficult moral issues and emotional qualms. Some readers might be put off by the repeated reflections on risking one’s life for others, and the legitimacy or otherwise of deceit and violence in a brutal war situation. I found the many characters with unfamiliar-sounding names a bit difficult at first, but the matter largely resolved itself as the book progressed.
This is a magnificent book with a challenging theme. You can buy the paperback here or the e-book here, or at Amazon or elsewhere. Heather Munn has written two earlier books together with her mother, Lydia Munn: How Huge the Night and Defy the Night. They set the scene for Flame in the Night and introduce some of the characters. However, it is not necessary to read them first, as each book is complete in itself.
Jesus told His followers: The world hates you. I’ve been thinking about that.
Is it true? Surely, not everyone hates us. Recently, I have observed two different streams within western society – the ‘Lorders and Hoarders’ and the ‘Carers and Sharers’. Continue reading “Two Streams”
They invited me to their house-warming party, though I’d never met them. They aren’t even married.
Loud rock music greeted me before I entered the garden. Other guests clustered around beer cans. The hostess was smoking, her bare arms boasting brazen 
tattoos. She introduced me to her partner – equally tattooed, equally smoking. In his free time he’s a DJ at a seedy nightclub. He was offering guests Red Bulls with vodka. I helped myself to tiramisu and found a seat. At the end of the table sat a person of undefined gender, equipped with a massive German Shepherd dog. A seven-year-old girl with a coy look revealed her underwear as she pranced around and fluttered seductive eyelashes at the menfolk. Continue reading “Battling Prejudice”
Each morning, I read the Daily Moravian Bible Texts – first in German (Losungen), then in English. Both today’s Old Testament and New Testament readings refer (in German) to the Nations (Völker). This made me stop and think.
Tut kund seine Herrlichkeit unter den Nationen, unter allen Völkern seine Wunder. Psalm 96,3
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:3 (NIV)
Paulus und Barnabas berichteten, was Gott alles durch sie getan und dass er allen Völkern die Tür zum Glauben aufgetan habe. Apostelgeschichte 14,27
On arriving there, Paul and Barnabas gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:27 (NIV) Continue reading “Does God care about nations?”
It took a while, but I’ve finished it now.
I was a bit previous in my earlier judgement. Schneier has realized there are moral aspects to the question of trust.
Nevertheless, I’m still rather disappointed in the book. There are a few penetrating insights and provocative assertions:
But it could all have been said much more briefly. What all the tediously repetitive arguments and societal dilemma tables come down to, is that ‘natural’ mechanisms for ensuring trust in a community don’t scale adequately to the present globally networked world. Four societal pressure systems are needed: moral, reputational, institutional, and security systems. And the ‘defectors’ – who have a certain valid raison d’être, since they are the ones who challenge traditions and thus facilitate progress – will always try and usually succeed to outwit those who implement the institutional structures and security systems.
There’s no real conclusion. And, coming from a widely acclaimed ICT security specialist, there’s precious little mention of technological approaches or solutions.
Die konkreten Vorschläge, die ich bei der Kundgebung OccupyParadeplatz gehört habe und mich am Meisten beeindruckten, sind folgende:
Andere finde ich etwas zu idealistisch oder nicht rightig, z.B.:
Auch Müllmänner und Kinderbetreuer sind viel mehr Wert als sie verdienen. Dagegen sollten Bankiers weniger als ein Siebtel ihres heutigen Lohns erhalten! Steuerberater auch.
