The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together, for it implied — as had been said at Nuremberg over and over again by the defendants and their counsels — that this new type of criminal, who is in actual fact hostis generis humani, commits his crimes under circumstances that make it well-nigh impossible for him to know or to feel that he is doing wrong.   Hannah Arendt

Thursday, October 30, 2003

Wednesday 5PM

Was I ever happy? I feel as though I must have been but I can't recall the day.

I've been optimistic. I can distinctly remember bright optimism. I'm often positive, although far too many times in a pastures greener on the other side way.

I can do cheerful. Sometimes it's not even a pose.

Is it because I can never forget that I can die? Is it because I can never forget that even the smoothest running engine can be undone by its smallest component's wearing out or going awry? I don't think so. They are not forgettable but they do not nag. Is it because life is joyless from time to time? It cannot be, because I know that I can bring joy, and will be joyful in those times because it's always true - in my life anyway - that joy begets joy.

But I am not sad.

posted by Dr Zen @ 3:08 am

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