I appreciate your sharing this essay about your experience; and more importantly, I respect your willingness to wrestle with the complexities involved in trying to live righteously within an evil context. The easiest thing in the world to do is to make absolute declarations about who/what is right or wrong; but what does one do when the absolute/ideal is not possible?
We must all be careful to not allow Perfection to become the enemy of Good.
I have long been an observer of your work alongside Rev. Dr. Barber - a man that I love, respect and admire. Before retiring, I was the host of a daily radio broadcast (WURD Radio), and an editor of a national magazine. I now contribute to several media outlets, and I also direct communications for the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia.
I would love to interview you, if you would be willing! If so, please email me at nick@mccpphilly.org so that we can make arrangements.
Agree, my eyes were opened when I heard, a black speaker (I’m sorry I don’t know his name/NPR during BLM protest) say good white people suffered trauma in seeing the violence against blacks during slavery. Who did not believe or participate in atrocities and could not fight violence. I hope I m getting my point across. The compassion and observation and not putting everyone into one category by a black man regarding slavery. A beautiful man. ❤️
Thank you for this thoughtful framing of the challenge we each face every day we live in the maw of Western Dominant Culture, here in the US. It is hard to feel confident that I am doing enough to stand for life and build Beloved Community. Perhaps it is enough to be asking the question every day, "Am I doing all I can?"
"What I will do today in response to the people in front of me." Exactly! In our sensation driven culture it is so easy to assume I must do a great thing and, if it appears I cannot, then I can do nothing that matters. I am an old man living in a village of oldsters. We don't get out much. But we assist each other. And every Saturday morning some go out to the street to proclaim NO KINGS. It isn't much. But it's a step. For many of us, just being able to take a step is challenging; but we do it. Not everyone is in place to offer leverage for or against a system. But, that person in front of me? Yes.
Thank you for sharing this. I interpret this through the lens of duty. We have duties to each other, but all duties are limited by capability. The tradeoff between complicity and the capability to help others in these monstrous situations really comes down to one's moral balancing, so good work helping people think about what that looks like.
An interesting question for another essay might be, When does complicity begin? Judging history is always tricky. ("The past is a foreign country. They do strange things there.") Was Poelchau complicit when he accepted the job? On his second day, after the boycott began? After a month, a year, or three of seven? What are the signposts people should look for on that path towards complicity, to help identify when they've crossed whatever line that history may draw?
Thank you so much, Jonathan. We swim in the evils of our capitalist economy every day and your words here challenge us to think more deeply about the violence of our complicity
I was delighted to read your tribute to Pastor Harald Poelchau and his wife, Dorothee Poelchau (both of whom, incidentally, have also been honored as "Righteous Gentiles" at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem).
In 1989, I translated Pastor Poelchau's memoir Die letzten Stunden ("Their Final Hours") from German to English as my master's thesis. The book is subtitled "Recollections of a Prison Chaplain" and was first published in Germany in 1947. It was republished in Cologne in the late 1980s, which is when I came across it & picked it for my thesis. Poelchau wrote the book in collaboration with Alexander Stenbock-Fermor, a writer perhaps better known in East Germany than in West.
I have never succeeded in finding an American publisher for my translation. (I believe a copy is still on file in Berlin at the memorial center on German resistance located at Plötzensee Prison.) So if you have any connections, please let me know! Poelchau's book has certainly influenced my live--for instance, when I was arrested at a Moral Monday demonstration here in North Carolina--and seems now to grow more relevant by the day.
Many thanks to you and Rev. Barber for you inspiring moral leadership.
I’d love to read your translation, Beth. It looks like Monterey Institute of International Studies published an English language version in 1989. Have you seen it?
Hi, Jonathan. Thank you for your message. I'll be happy to give you a copy of the translation! The book isn't very long, about 30,000 words, as I recall.
Regarding the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS): That's where I received an M.A. in Translation in 1989, after completing two years of course work and then submitting (and defending) my translation of Poelchau's book, which served as my master's thesis. I know that the school's practice was to bind theses like mine and deposit them in the school's library, and I might have seen the bound library copy, I'm not sure. But here's the embarrassing inside story--there are MISTAKES in that bound copy that I didn't catch until several years later, when I printed the translation out to give to a friend here in Durham. Not defensible mistakes, either, just slip-ups that no one caught, such as giving a date as 1939 instead of 1938 or vice versa--I no longer remember the details but I'm still mortified. Oh, well. I'll go over it all again with a fine-toothed comb before you see it!
Jonathan,
I appreciate your sharing this essay about your experience; and more importantly, I respect your willingness to wrestle with the complexities involved in trying to live righteously within an evil context. The easiest thing in the world to do is to make absolute declarations about who/what is right or wrong; but what does one do when the absolute/ideal is not possible?
We must all be careful to not allow Perfection to become the enemy of Good.
Indeed. Thanks for reading and sharing.
I have long been an observer of your work alongside Rev. Dr. Barber - a man that I love, respect and admire. Before retiring, I was the host of a daily radio broadcast (WURD Radio), and an editor of a national magazine. I now contribute to several media outlets, and I also direct communications for the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia.
I would love to interview you, if you would be willing! If so, please email me at nick@mccpphilly.org so that we can make arrangements.
All the best; keep up the righteous work!
Beautiful, Nick. As we struggle to swim, and walk, through evil currents, there are unseen angels walking at our side, giving us help along the way.
Agree, my eyes were opened when I heard, a black speaker (I’m sorry I don’t know his name/NPR during BLM protest) say good white people suffered trauma in seeing the violence against blacks during slavery. Who did not believe or participate in atrocities and could not fight violence. I hope I m getting my point across. The compassion and observation and not putting everyone into one category by a black man regarding slavery. A beautiful man. ❤️
Thank you for this thoughtful framing of the challenge we each face every day we live in the maw of Western Dominant Culture, here in the US. It is hard to feel confident that I am doing enough to stand for life and build Beloved Community. Perhaps it is enough to be asking the question every day, "Am I doing all I can?"
"What I will do today in response to the people in front of me." Exactly! In our sensation driven culture it is so easy to assume I must do a great thing and, if it appears I cannot, then I can do nothing that matters. I am an old man living in a village of oldsters. We don't get out much. But we assist each other. And every Saturday morning some go out to the street to proclaim NO KINGS. It isn't much. But it's a step. For many of us, just being able to take a step is challenging; but we do it. Not everyone is in place to offer leverage for or against a system. But, that person in front of me? Yes.
Thank you, James Sterling, very much.
I was literally asking God aloud what I can do and moments later this title appeared as an alert on my phone. Thank you for writing this.
So glad it found you at the right time.
Thank you for sharing this. I interpret this through the lens of duty. We have duties to each other, but all duties are limited by capability. The tradeoff between complicity and the capability to help others in these monstrous situations really comes down to one's moral balancing, so good work helping people think about what that looks like.
An interesting question for another essay might be, When does complicity begin? Judging history is always tricky. ("The past is a foreign country. They do strange things there.") Was Poelchau complicit when he accepted the job? On his second day, after the boycott began? After a month, a year, or three of seven? What are the signposts people should look for on that path towards complicity, to help identify when they've crossed whatever line that history may draw?
Keep up the good work!
An inspiring and encouraging essay that should move us to action!
Thank you so much, Jonathan. We swim in the evils of our capitalist economy every day and your words here challenge us to think more deeply about the violence of our complicity
Grateful for you, Gann - and for all the ways you act to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Thank you again for your work. I'm very encouraged by your willingness to wrestle with tough questions, and share with all of us.
Wonderful words of Wisdom. Thank you !
This is a beautiful, meaningful essay. Thank you!🙏🏼🌻❤️
This is so well done. I appreciate this posting very much.
Complex issues require thinking and understanding that is equally so.
Much gratitude.
Thank you sharing your experience in Germany. We all must join the resistance in all ways large and small.
Rev. Barber. So glad the Sermon in Berlin was online.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and impressions of what you learned.
Thank you for the enlightening essay. I learned a lot from you.
Sharing with my bishops... Thank you!
Jonathan,
I was delighted to read your tribute to Pastor Harald Poelchau and his wife, Dorothee Poelchau (both of whom, incidentally, have also been honored as "Righteous Gentiles" at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem).
In 1989, I translated Pastor Poelchau's memoir Die letzten Stunden ("Their Final Hours") from German to English as my master's thesis. The book is subtitled "Recollections of a Prison Chaplain" and was first published in Germany in 1947. It was republished in Cologne in the late 1980s, which is when I came across it & picked it for my thesis. Poelchau wrote the book in collaboration with Alexander Stenbock-Fermor, a writer perhaps better known in East Germany than in West.
I have never succeeded in finding an American publisher for my translation. (I believe a copy is still on file in Berlin at the memorial center on German resistance located at Plötzensee Prison.) So if you have any connections, please let me know! Poelchau's book has certainly influenced my live--for instance, when I was arrested at a Moral Monday demonstration here in North Carolina--and seems now to grow more relevant by the day.
Many thanks to you and Rev. Barber for you inspiring moral leadership.
Beth Jackson Berman
Durham NC
I’d love to read your translation, Beth. It looks like Monterey Institute of International Studies published an English language version in 1989. Have you seen it?
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Beth Berman
just now
Hi, Jonathan. Thank you for your message. I'll be happy to give you a copy of the translation! The book isn't very long, about 30,000 words, as I recall.
Regarding the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS): That's where I received an M.A. in Translation in 1989, after completing two years of course work and then submitting (and defending) my translation of Poelchau's book, which served as my master's thesis. I know that the school's practice was to bind theses like mine and deposit them in the school's library, and I might have seen the bound library copy, I'm not sure. But here's the embarrassing inside story--there are MISTAKES in that bound copy that I didn't catch until several years later, when I printed the translation out to give to a friend here in Durham. Not defensible mistakes, either, just slip-ups that no one caught, such as giving a date as 1939 instead of 1938 or vice versa--I no longer remember the details but I'm still mortified. Oh, well. I'll go over it all again with a fine-toothed comb before you see it!
Best regards,
Beth