Please, I need a help!

 

Excerpts and Commentary

on the ideas presented in Snow in August

Is it ever OK to ignore somebody’s call for help, and would that make you a coward – or smart?

It takes Courage

In the book Snow in August by Pete Hamill, we read how an immigrant (Czech) Orthodox Rabbi called out, “Please, I need a Help!” one winter morning in 1946 Brooklyn, as a young Catholic alter boy (Michael) was struggling by during a blizzard.

“A little light, is good, yes?” he said upon the boy’s apprehensively entering the dark foreign vestibule; indicating that he wanted him to reach up and flip on a light switch.

“Why don’t you turn it on?” asked the boy, suspiciously.

“Is not...permitted”, the Rabbi explained. “Today is Shabbos, you see, and -is simple, no? Just -” (The boy flicked the switch and the Rabbi smiled and gave him a nickel. “A dank. Very good boy, you are. Very good.”

He subsequently develops a friendship with the Rabbi which is central to the book.

Another thematic thread is subsequently introduced as Michael enters a candy shop with some friends to spend some hard earned money. A notorious older bully (Frankie McCarthy) enters and provokes, then brutally beats the elderly Jewish proprietor. His friends run away, but he freezes while the attack takes place.

“You didn’t see a _ thing, did you, kid? the bully demanded. Michael said nothing. Did you? Michael shook his head no.”

Later, he was human enough to be bothered by “the shameful cowardice that had stopped him from trying to help the old man. He could not get around one awful fact: that while Frankie McCarthy was battering Mister G., (he) said and did nothing. Sonny ran; he thought, but I froze.”

When the Rabbi later asks why he didn’t inform the authorities, the boy “tried to face the Rabbi, but gazed instead at the walls and the low ceiling. “ ‘I can’t tell the cops,’ Michael said. ‘Around here, you don’t tell the cops anything. They’re like, I don’t know, the enemy. And I’m Irish, Rabbi. I talk to the cops, I’m an informer, and my mother says they were the worst people in Ireland.’ He struggled for control, pushing the image of Mister G’s bloody face from his mind. ‘Around here, they call an informer a rat, or a squealer. They cut your cheek all the way to the ear, they -’

‘You can’t tell the police in secret?’

‘No! I tell them and don’t give my name, they do nothing. I give my name, they make me a witness, and then everyone knows my name. Look, I gotta go.’”

The Rabbi eventually told him, “ ‘Michael, you are a very good boy. You are kind, you are a worker, I can see. But you are young. You have not already learn some of the hard things in the life. One very hard thing? You keep quiet about some crime, it’s just as bad as the crime’. He paused. ‘Believe me, I know.’ ”

In a later chapter, the boy’s widowed mother was talking to a visiting policeman. “ ‘Where’s your husband, lady?’ the sallow cop said. ‘In Belgium.’ ‘Whatta you mean, Belgium?’ ‘He’s buried there. That’s where he died,’ she said, and pointed toward (a swastika painted near) the roof. ‘Fighting people who used that sign.’”

Woven throughout the book along with anti-semitism and the exploration of cowardice is the theme of racism, as exemplified in the bigoted treatment of Jackie Robinson, despite his great promise for the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first black Major League baseball player – at a time when baseball was culturally huge in Brooklyn.

“Rabbi Hirsch did understand how important it was for Robinson to succeed. ‘For the colored people, is very important’, he said. ‘And for poor people, all kinds. And for us too, for the Jews.’

Michael waited for an explanation, and it came.

‘A man like this, he is a, a...I don’t know the word. But he is there for others. Catholics, when they are hated, Jackie Robinson is a Catholic. Jews, when they are hated, Jackie Robinson is a Jew. You see?’

‘Sort of.’

‘So Jackie Robinson we have to help,’ Rabbie Hirwch said. ‘We help him, we help ourselves.’”

Hamill’s character Michael is fascinated by Marvel comic book characters, and imaginatively projects them into his own world. (Except in the cartoon world bullets bounce off chests, while in the real world they go right through.) Michael reads and mulls over the “once good kids...who came to bad ends...They died in ambushes. They died outside movie houses. They even died in the snow, like (his father) died (in wartime) Begium, but without being heroes. They didn’t ever die for their country. They died for money. Or women.”

“He had learned that there were truly bad people in the world, and when they went after you, you really hurt.”

This is demonstrated when he is brutally beaten by the bully’s gang, in retaliation for supposed “squealing” – and his own friends suddenly desert him, though they’d supposedly been super tight: “All for one, and one for all.” Supposedly, supposedly – he’d been living in supposedlys.

But now he’s suddenly alone and hurting in the hospital, so has to create a private plan in order to stay sane:

“Maybe he couldn’t shout Shazam and turn into th eworld’s mightiest mortal. But he could wait in silence, like the Count of Monte Cristo, and build himself up.”

“Actions that once were easy were now difficult.”

He’s engulfed in fear about what will happen when he meets them again, but his mother nails the wise counsel by saying:

“Don’t let them scare you, son... That’s how they win.”

Along this line, the Rabbi relates how he first encountered Hitler in Europe in 1923, when the future Fuhrer seemed ascendant, despite indications of cruelty. His father told him he wouldn’t be able to just ignore Hitler, but would have to deliberately face up to him.

“My father said I would have to choice.”

“‘Choose,’ Michael said.

“Choose. I can become more of a Jew, he said, or I can be no Jew at all. I choosed to be more of a Jew.”

The Rabbi then talked about his passionate Zionist wife, who insisted the Jews needed to leave Europe for Palestine to survive. “ She said if Jews were going to live they must be ready to die… And she was right.”

Finally one of Michael’s (former?) friends comes to visit him during his convalescence. “ ‘I’m not supposed to talk to you,’ Sonny said, his head and eyes moving around in search of witnesses.”

“ ‘Says who?’

‘Says everybody.’

‘How come?’

‘They say you’re a rat.’

‘That’s (BS), Sonny, and you know it.’

Sonny said nothing.

‘Sonny, the charges were dropped against those guys. I just saw Skids and the Russian in front of the poolroom. The reason they’re out? I wouldn’t talk.’

‘They say you ratted them out and then got scared of them. That’s what they say.’

‘The cops came to see me in the hospital, Abbot and Costello themselves. But I wouldn’t say anything. I swear to God. Go ask them.’

‘Why would anybody believe them? They’re cops!’

‘Why would anybody believe the _ who did this to me? Four on one, they held me, they beat the crap out of me, for what? What are they, _ heroes? You believe them before you believe me, Sonny, and you’re supposed to be my friend?’

Sonny stared at Michael’s face, then at the cast, and stared into the schoolyard.

‘I’m sorry, Michael,’ he said. I think you didn’t rat. But everybody else thinks you did.’

‘They’re all wrong.’

‘But we gotta live with them.’”

When Sonny and another (former?) friend Jimmy encounter Michael’s mother, she excoriates them.

“‘Some friends you’ve been,’ Kate Devlon said. ‘Move over and let us by.’

Sonny stood to let her pass, and for a moment Michael was afraid that he’d completely turned against the Devlins and would strike her. He tensed, ready to attack.

‘I don’t blame you for being mad at us, Mrs Devlin,’ Sonny said softly. ‘But we didn’t have no choice.’

‘Yes, you did,’ she said, her anger pushing her up the steps. ‘You could have had guts.’ ”

They learn that Frankie, the bully and gang leader, has been released for lack of evidence and is planning retaliation – to “get these _ people out of our hair, once and for all.” (...they gotta let everybody know what they can do or the cops will nail them all.”)

“(He) ...says they gotta do to you what they did to (another victim). To set a _ example. And Tippy Hudnut says they didn’t go far enough, they shoulda killed the Jew bastid and burned down the synagogue with him in it.”

(Then Frankie displays a gun he’s acquired), …“says they can grab who they want...and blow their heads off. He says, ‘These _ people around here, they gotta know we mean what we say.’“

“...he says, ‘You gotta put fear in them to make it work.’”

Michael’s zeal for comic book heros transfers to Golem, the huge “clay man-made-human” which is featured in the kabbalac mysticism his Rabbi friend patronizes. In a bout of fantastical “imagino-reality” they bring him into being to battle their their enemies. But “...Golem didn’t simply follow orders. He had his own feelings, his own ideas.”

(Not exactly supporting the subject but huge enough to mention): Even if we trust the source, must we always follow orders (from “higher-ups”)? Alternately, is it ever right to just “follow orders” (except for obvious exceptions such as the ones that follow)? - since the very phrase implies “blind robotic obedience”. (Of course a pilot follows orders from ground control; if we don’t don’t all stop at red lights people will die; and if know-less children don’t obey know-more adults they could get hurt. But, in enough meat for a whole ‘nother write-up, the whole idea is food for a word revolt.)

Anyway, when the Golem has his back, Michael can finally confront his tormentor:

“ ‘Just so you know, Frankie’, Michael said, taking a step forward, ‘I never said a word about you to the cops’.”

“Don’t horseshit me, you _ punk.”

“’I’m not horseshitting you, Frankie,’ Michael said. ‘I didn’t rat. But you know what I learned? I should have told them everything. I should have told them right from the start what a _ coward you were, beating up poor Mister G.’ Michael remembered what the Rabbi had said one night in early spring. ‘That’s what I learned. I learned, you keep your mouth shut about a crime, sometimes that’s worse than the crime.”

“’A rat is a rat.’ Frankie sneered.”

“No, Frankie. A cowardly bum is a cowardly bum. And you are a _ coward and a _ bum.”

He then challenges him to set the record straight, confess to the crime, and admit that Michael hadn’t informed on anybody. “Do something really _ brave, Frankie. For a change.”

“I’ve been afraid long enough. I’m not running.” (Of course, with superhuman backup, that was a lot easier to say.)

 

LibertyLioness’s thoughts

on the Big Ideas in Snow in August

Would you run away - and agree to stay silent?

Most of us know that’s cowardly.

Or is it?

“Better to stay alive to do good another day.”

“It’s stupid to get yourself killed if you know you don’t stand a chance.”

“Think of all the people you’d be hurting if you died. People who need you.”

“You gotta use strategy. Sometimes it’s better to slink out and stay alive so you can regroup and retaliate.”

“Sometimes staying quiet isn’t cowardly, it’s just letting things cool off and preventing more trouble in the long run.”

“Just walk away and forget about it; it’s not your business, so don’t make it your business”.

“Jesus said to not resist an evil person, and “if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.” (Matt 5:39)

“Jesus said, ‘Pursue peace with all people…” (Heb. 12:14)

On the other hand,

Jesus said, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt 10:34)

He also overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple and called the Pharisees “whited sepulchers”, which was the meanest thing you could call them in their culture.

Are there things worth standing up for regardless of the backlash – or is it better to ‘pick your own time’?

We can either bravely act; watch those who do – on Twitter; or “rise above it” and just enjoy life without trying so hard and always feeling we have to “knock ourselves out”. OR, we can live an internally conflicted life of psychological dissonance and keep the manufacturers of mood stabilizing drugs in business. !

Have you ever seen kindness? Heroism?

What IS a hero to you? (somebody who risks their life for a noble cause? - OR...)

Is there anything you’d risk YOUR life for?

(“So why would I have to risk my life?”)

Because it’s not really virtue until it’s tried and tested, that’s why.

“Then, let the people who WANT to be on the front lines do all the trying and testing. Let them be the big heroes. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

It’ll hit you sometime in your life, guaranteed: something you really really really do NOT want to do, but know deep down you need to. That’s what defines whether you’re a real woman/man/AKA heroine/hero. Doesn’t have to be on any front lines. Can be between you and God (after you’ve been sworn in), or you and that unfilled line on your medical history or tax return. You and that guy whose car you just dented in the parking lot (and that guy never saw you). You-on-a-diet and that cupcake. They’re all front lines, actually.

Are you attracted to heroism – repulsed – or indifferent?

If a hero messes up, are they still a hero? (In which case there’d be no human heroes, only storybook ones.)

“Why worry so much about being a hero… why not just a decent person? Live and let live.”

But what if somebody you love is in trouble – wouldn’t you want someone to help them?

Why wouldn’t you be willing to do the same?

“There’s changing the world, and then there are the little decencies. So what if I’m not up for changing the world? Of course I try to be decent and help when I can.”

But if everyone were decent, the world WOULD be changed.

Now you’re thinking - which is the first step toward becoming somebody.

(“I already AM somebody, and don’t need you to make up all those self-righteous conditions”.)

Of course you are. And if you’re satisfied where you’re at, good for you. It’s nice and comfy at the bottom of the hill. The wind’s not as strong and there’s lots of good grass to chew on. But you’ll never see the sun rise or set from that ridge on top, and man, that is SOME ineffable view. (You’ll never know what you don’t know, and you’ll never feel what you don’t feel, if you don’t get a spark to land in that dry soul of yours somewhere. A spark of curiosity, desire, hunger; an itch for excitement. But don’t worry - people slime slowly through life all the time without ever changing, and since they don’t have anything to stick in their craw, their craw never bothers them. In fact, they probably never even realize they HAVE a craw. Those lucky, crawless, soul-shrunk people.)

But if you ARE capable of discontent and dreaming; punching your inner self in the nose when necessary-

Then you’re on your way to the top of that mountain- from which you will see not only see sunrises and sunsets, but – other mountain ranges and new worlds, including the frontier of you.

Which will hopefully include becoming a brave, articulate hero, because we’re terribly short of those right now. Too many of us are staying silent, and staying in our seats. Too many of us are minding our own business when, to paraphrase Dickens’ Jacob Marley, “Mankind is our business” ! Too many of us want to stay safe, without realizing we’re all in the same boat, and baby that boat has gone and sprung itself a GREAT BIG leak.

So, who are your heros, and where are you finding them?

Because people are (often) copyycats and like to pattern themselves after others (hopefully those they admire- and hopefully for good reasons, right?)

Of course one person’s villain is somebody else’s champion...in the perennial reality of both sides fighting to the death for their righteousness (or in the case of mercenaries, for their paycheck.) Of course, now you can fight a war but not necessarily to the death – at least YOUR death. You can send drones, or be a Commander in Chief holding men like ants in a box over a fire; opening up a hellhole at the bottom, then shaking the box – so a lot end up fried. Granted, war is what shakes the box, and war is nothing but a whole lot of reactions amplified by arms: reactions planned, unplanned, horrible, heroic. Even offensive moves are reactions, of course, to something evil, or something evil wants to destroy. Without reactions, there’d be no war – OR peace.

But it’s what comes BEFORE a reaction, what drives it, that counts: our roots & foundation. What we’ve become by habit or early training. The place all our resolve comes from - or else our indifference or ignorance (though NOBODY owns up to that last one). Who and what we really are _which can be shaped like play dough into whatever we like. But it can become stronger and stronger til it’s like buckypaper (harder than diamonds) or graphene (even stronger) – depending on our thoughts and actions– including powerful mind/body techniques that actually lower cortisol and raise serotonin and “spinal fluid” (meaning backbone and resolve).

People are all over the place about why it is or isn’t good to risk your life helping the stranger/“enemy”; dying for your country; dying for money; killing when somebody “disses” you; or whatever you think is worth dying/killing for. But too often those things are done in the heat (or ice) of the moment, without thinking – so we have to figure out our stand first, before we can take it (to be heroes and not slugs with human DNA); thinking and reasoning about stuff that transcends life: honor, nobility; staying cool when it’s right; getting heated up when that’s right; having values and a big heart instead of scores to settle.

If you take a thought-out, decisive stand for something noble, you’ll be a hero. If you take it for something evil you may still consider yourself noble, because it’s human nature to be blind to our own ignorances – and after all, isn’t “evil” a subjective thing? (To many, it is.) Is it to you?

Resove has to be strong enough to blast through all the fear/inertia that gets in in its way. But maybe sometimes it’s better to just “cool your heels.” To quote Mac Anderson in You Can’t Send a Duck to Eagle School (P. 107):

“Leo Tolstoy said, ‘The two most powerful warriors are patience and time’.” (Anderson then recalls a surfing taxi driver telling him that surfing was) “ ‘Very dangerous, if you don’t know what you’re doing.’ He said that many people drown when a large wave takes them under and instincts tell them to fight to get back to the surface. The key, he said, is to do just the opposite; let your body go limp and the currents will bring you to the surface. As a leader there are times to act, and there are times to wait for the right answers to surface.”

Being heroic doesn’t necessarily mean taking instant action (unless life is in immediate danger, of course.) But it usually DOES mean taking action sooner rather than later – and you can only take action, instead of blindly lash out, if you’ve deliberately figured out your stand ahead of time -which means figuring out if you even WANT a stand.! (Heros always have something they gotta stand up for.)

What will you do when somebody different asks for help that might be more scary that flipping a light switch on the Orthodox Sabbath; or a thug tries to force a choice between your bodily integrity and moral integrity..?

Remember, on different days, it will be different people screaming- “Please- I need a help!” If not you, then somebody who needs – or loves - you.

Let’s all grow spines and become heros. Courage comes from passion – from conscience – and from just plain doing good stuff. As Aristotle said, “ Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”

Moreover, “the opposite of courage is not cowardice; it’s conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”- (Jim Hightower) (Conformity can be the ultimate in comfortable cowardice - depending of course on what you’re conforming to. And if it’s keeping your head down when heads up are needed, then that’s of course – cowardice.)

Throw your courage over that obstacle (human, cellular, mental or…) and let success follow – hopefully with words, but more if needed. Words that come from as much compassion as you can come up with – only ending in moves when everything else is failing (or flailing). It all starts in that place between the ears, and that place behind the ribs. Go for it.