The Human Race
A couple months ago I had a “dream/vision” before I was awake for the day. I saw this book cover. It was yellow, kind of had a yellow circle and in black letters the title was “The Human Race”. A lot of times I have visions that are more like subliminal messages flashing across my line of sight, but this was clear as day. Also, it brought up a lot of questions. I was not sure if this was a book I was to write, or a book that had already been written and I needed to read. A quick google search would bring me the answers I sought.
The Human Race was written and published in France in 1957 as L’espece humaine by Robert Antelme. In 1992 it was translated and published in English by Marlboro Press in Vermont by Jeffrey Haight and Annie Mahler. The cover is a dark depiction of a concentration camp and the only primary color that could be attributed to it is yellow. “The Human Race” is written in white. I just finished reading it and my life will be forever changed.
This book is very much a study from the inside of a concentration camp (Gandersheim, in Germany, 1944) of the experiences of one man, Robert Antelme, who was treated as less than a man, less than a human, and how he survived. He talks in detail about the methods of starving and how he made a miniscule bite of bread last, allowing the stale bread to get doughy in his mouth and chewing and chewing and chewing until there was nothing left but air. He talks about how hunger is incessant and gnawing and constant thoughts of food, but also how remembering food/meals of the past was a particular torture. He talks about stealing potatoes from the kitchen and bringing them to their bunks and cooking them on the stoves placed in there for warmth and how it was important not to get caught. Beatings were a regular occurrence for the slightest offense, and often for no offense. Language differences were a problem and men who were bi-lingual and spoke German were often put into the impossible situation of being made dominant over those who did not speak German. And yet, all the prisoners wore their striped clothing and slept on the same bunks. They were all infested with lice so thick that the only thing that took their mind away from their hunger and their cold was the itching and removing lice.
The conditions were horrid, but Antelme found a method to survive. First, he believed, without a doubt that he would be free one day soon and he focused (and helped other men focus) on that daily, even when rations were cut or when he was given a more severe beating than the last. He had hope. Second, and this is no less important than having hope, he found the humanness in everyone around him. When his friend lost so much weight that he was unrecognizable hours before he died, he saw him as human. Fellow prisoners, who fought without civility for the possibility of a second helping of watered down soup; he found their humanity. Fellow prisoners who were made kapos and got larger portions of food and kept some of their bulk, and even the Nazis; he saw as humans doing what they needed to do to survive. The man/the men were treated sub-humanly and somehow Antelme was able to keep the perspective that everyone was just doing what they had to do to survive.
How does this apply to me? Or, more appropriately, how can I apply this to my life? Well, I guess that’s the challenge these days, isn’t it? We are surrounded by a divisiveness in this country (although our country is not alone in this) that is extreme. Everyone is busy thinking that they have things figured out and people who don’t agree with them are not only wrong, but the enemy. Maybe this isn’t even close to the truth. Maybe, just maybe, people who think differently are in the midst of different life experiences and they are doing and believing what they need to to survive? When I am able to see the humanity in people who hold different values and ideals than my own, perhaps I can create a life that’s a little more hopeful. I can’t fix this crazy weather, these storms and fires, or the wars or political mayhem…but if I take a moment and truly SEE each person, whether in person or on TV, as a human trying to make it through this world the best they can, I will be spreading grace and peace and love. If enough of us do that, what a difference it will make to the human race.
