Schindler's List

Does human being born with compassion?

            Oftentimes, people may easily use the word “insane” to express the feeling of them being shocked or surprised intensely, then after watching this movie, Schindler’s List, I fully understand “insane” would be better used to describe Nazi. I just cannot accept; seeing all the scenes where innocent victims had been killed randomly by the Germany army, even the kids were killed by them without having to show a single sign of mercy or regret because they just did not care. All they saw was just powerless and filthy Jews, or simply some toys for them to have fun with, as in life of a human being was not even sounded anything to them. Understanding that Germany was being on the winning side of the war, but did that even translate to be able to kill anyone they wanted to? I would certainly say no; only I realized how much I have taken life for granted; millions of guiltless lives were hoping for a chance just to be alive though they did not even do a single wrong thing.

            It has got me started to wonder about humanity, like was there a such thing back in the past, or exists in contemporary world. It was scary, so scary to see that envy of someone’s ability and capability was arguably the cause of the idea of Anti-Semitism, which led to the death of so many poor souls. Putting the sense of superiority of own race to the others, or “pure Aryan race” altogether with Anti-Semitism, there came a miserable Holocaust. However, did every German actually support the idea of this; affirmatively no. It was not really that they did not want to stop it, but the unarmed or powerless them had got themselves to confirm to it. Fortunately, Oskar Schindler in the movie had found his compassion, his basic sympathy towards the innocent ones.

            Schindler was a war profiteer and womanizer who initially had no intention to help or even save any Jews; he kept on denying that he was shown to be inclined to help the Jews. It has become obvious when he turned out to help a woman’s parents by giving them jobs in his factory although he was rejecting her angrily at the first place. This was debatable of him started to show the first sign of altruism that led to his later action. Though it was really confusing with his narcissism shown in the beginning of the movie, imaging himself as a great one to be written in the history, and to be remembered by everyone of him doing something extraordinary, making a hell lot of money with originally nothing, but later his emphasis of being powerful to Goeth was to have the ability to let go a person when one has the every justification to kill the person was just another sign that he showed his subtle altruism indirectly in my opinion. And, Schindler again tried to spray the water to the people on the trains, helping them to ease their suffering although it was perceived as an evil act by the Nazi of him trying to give the people a fake hope. In the very end, he spent almost all of his money just to get as many Jews as possible to move with him to his so-called new manufacturing factory; he was not pleased or forced to do all these, but doing all these willingly. Schindler could not take it anymore, and burst with tears when he was actually being thanked by all his workers. He was a hero, a hero in their hearts.

            It was really hard to explain why Schindler had actually decided to behave in this altruistic way, but he indeed showed the altruistic act during the very hard time. He showed that humanity did exist in a very least way; compassion might certainly not be something one born to have, but a realization in the possibly worst mankind or most miserable circumstances. Schindler was a serious contrast to those evil Nazi although he admitted himself as a part of them, but his later altruistic acts just did not justify that. He had risked his life and everything to save the others without any reciprocal return, and perhaps that demonstrated one’s most humble altruism and nobility of humanity. Schindler might not the greatest one in history, but he certainly showcased what a person could at least do with his or her very own limited yet influential ability to contribute an effort to humanity, to remind human beings what made us different from insane animals, and to human civilization.