When is something morally justifiable?
If atrocities are committed, but they serve a purpose, are they 'alright'? When is the greater good 'greater' than the life of an individual?
Is it fair to praise those who did morally 'incorrect' things that later turned into knowledge that changed the world by revolutionizing, e.g., medicine or technology?
For a while at least, Professor August Hirt thought he'd found a cure for cancer in his research. It ended up being a false assumption. He'd been using mice and other small rodents for his experiments. Most of us will agree that this was within the moral code of research.
What about the next step? Trying to 'save' soldiers by trying out cures for mustard gas on a few selected specimens? The majority of us would agree that experiments of that caliber done on humans are morally incorrect in every case unless the person willingly agrees to it.
But what if he had - theoretically, developed an effective cure for people who'd come in contact with the Kampfgas or, even more far-fetched, had found a cure for cancer? Would it have made what he'd done 'alright'? I believe that a large portion of us would shake our heads, and although we'd most definitely use the cure, we would not praise the creator.
Martin's head ached from all the thinking he'd been doing. The world of 1943 was fucked up - there was no better way to put it. But how much better was the world he'd left?
In second grade, a girl named Poppy accidentally knocked over the lunch his mom had packed him. He'd been furious because most of the food was inedible after being dropped into the mud below the bench. Poppy was the kind of shy kid who didn't have many friends and wasn't very good with people - instead of apologizing, she'd run away. Martin had snitched on her to one of the teachers, who had then fetched Poppy from behind a tree where she'd been cowering. The girl had broken into tears when she'd had to face angry little Martin. It ended up being embarrassing and uncomfortable for both of them. They hated each other after that; they never picked each other when they made teams and didn't talk if they ended up in the same group project. He'd blamed it all on her.
Thinking back on it over a decade later, he no longer blamed Poppy. He could have said something funny and then asked her if she could give him an apple or something so that he'd have something to eat. Maybe, seeing that Poppy was socially awkward, he could have reassured her that it was alright and then asked a teacher if someone had a bit of food to spare—maybe a cheese stick.
But people love to blame people. It's easier to blame someone than to deal with the problem.
Politicians should have lunch together more often.
He smiled and had to suppress a laugh. In the state he'd left the states in, he was sure that a Republican would have rather eaten lunch with a pelican than a Democrat and vice versa.
He wished he had fresh apples, but he didn't. He scavaged his kitchen for food. All he had left was old bread.
Another thought surfaced in his mind as he gnawed on the impossibly hard baguette: Germany had gotten lots of hate for supporting Israel. But how could they not? Now, having been in a concentration camp and having seen what was done to Jews - and many other people, he understood why, even if it were a hot topic in which 'people' had the right to certain parts of the land, Germany supported the Jewish side. Because how could they not after what they'd done only eighty years before? And to the question of immigrants - it would be seen as 'rightist' if Germany were to filter more thoroughly. They would be accused of things that countries like Poland or Switzerland would never be charged with after taking in much fewer refugees than possible.
His headache intensified. What Germany had done under Hitler was unforgivable; that was unarguable. He didn't remember who'd said it, but somebody who'd held a 'climate change is real' talk at his high school had quoted a man who'd felt that the greatest catastrophe of humanity was not the First or Second World War but the climate crisis. Imagine the number of people who potentially need to flee to colder countries. Imagine the amount of unusable land and water. The pollution in the air. Would Germany be forced to accept millions more than Switzerland because of 'Hitler', or would the countries, like the USA, China, India, Russia, etc., who were the most responsible for 'pollution' be the ones to carry the burden?
But could all the other countries really blame the aforementioned four if they bought gas, clothes, and outsourced companies in those countries? On the other hand, in a growing economy where everything needs to be cheap and efficient, how could these countries not reach back and grasp cheaper measures if they wanted to keep up with the global market?
Martin wished he had paid more attention in class. Maybe he would have understood the world better—or maybe he wouldn't.
Martin didn't know how Franz could have dealt with politics. He was tired after arguing about it with himself.
In Hitler's notorious book Mein Kampf, Hitler writes that politicians must be sure of what they support and where they stand. And they must not change their opinions. Martin wondered if politicians were less stubborn and would listen to each other and consider a different viewpoint than their own. If you've ever read "How to Win Friends and Influence People," you'll find that the renowned Dale Carnegie emphasizes the importance of listening.
The gift of listening is something many politicians had but lost somewhere along the way. But what is the point of politics if we don't listen?