Buddhism Posting In USA communities ..idproject.com
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The following is a post on the reflection after watching the movie "life is beautiful"
a father tries to explain to the children a lie to mask the horror of the war
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Okay. As a parent (and grandparent) and as a movie lover, I'll jump in.
(This is my first posting EVER here - so be gentle.)
I told my kids that there might have been a historic Santa Claus but that, to me, Santa was the spirit of generosity and that parents kept up the tradition in order to give kids an example of what it is to give just for the sake of giving - not because people were bad or good but that we are all deserving of love.
So that was non-Christmas in my house.
(Yes. My children HATE me. No. Not really. Well. Sometimes.)
As to the situation in "Life is Beautiful," how DO you introduce a child to the horrors of human inhumanity? Kids are adaptable, yes. They are. Human beings generally are pretty flexible - and the rigid ones break FAST so stand back!!!! And always carry a dishrag, just in case.
I have no idea what kind of study has been done on 'children in ugly situations' - however, dya all remember that school of children held captive by terrorist for days and days and days? Well, HBO or some other cable station did a documentary in which those kids were interviewed. It was some tough stuff to watch and there are some severe cases of PTSD. Here is what touched me most.
First, the children requested that the school NOT be torn down but left exactly as it was.
Second, all of the people who died on that day are buried in a separate graveyard, away from the 'town cemetary.'
Third, that the grandmothers are accompanying the children to school now - most of them illiterate and finally getting an education.
Should we lie about suffering? Should we candy-coat it? Should we send First World Kids to Third World Countries to get a taste of honesty?
I think what was taught most in "Life is Beautiful" is to KEEP alive your humor, your love for life, your joy for each moment, your appreciation - despite the circumstances around you. Joy as the context, joy as the result.
We do LEARN to be human, after all, don't we? In these situations (situations that still go on - right now right now right now) I think we have to strike a balance between honesty and relieving suffering. How do we become compassionate? By suffering and by observing the suffering of others.
I'll tellya this, honestly, that my suffering seems tiny in comparison to what I see around me. Praps my suffering is more about 'dearth of stuff' than lack of it but I do ache for people, I really do.
OH! And as "metro NYC area" folks, children witnessed the events of 09/11/2001 first hand. There was no way that we COULD lie about it, was there? Children lost parents and other relatives. Children watched as classmates waited for word about friends and family.
Is it fair to shield them?
NEXT installment - because I'm running for a bus - is the story about my father, sweet young Quaker man, first introduced to 'humankind' as a photographer in WW2.
But another time for that.
Until then, Easy Sarva HRI, yall.
Winter -
In 1939, Guido, an Italian Jew, falls in love with Dora, who isn't Jewish. He woos her away from the Fascist official she has been dating, and they get married. Their son Giosue grows up among growing anti-Semitism. As the war progresses, Guido and Giosue are arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Dora goes too, determined not to separate the family. In the midst of the horrors of the camp, Guido protects his son by pretending that survival in the concentration camp is an elaborate game with which Giosue must play along or be sent home.