Repentance as Badge of Honor

In the past, I've had the opportunity to watch some excellent programs on World War II, read some excellent books on World War II, and... well, I debate the actual information content one derives from listening to music, but I've listened to some excellent music on World War II as well, I suppose. I've seen lots of Nazis, a fair number of jerks of other stripes, and a whole heaping mess of atrocities committed by all of the above during the historical period in question (remember, the Second World War). And I can say without question that I am not at all interested in going through any of the things I've seen myself.

But there are a fair number of people out there (growing smaller daily) who did go through some of these events, and a fair number of them participated actively in them. Leaving aside the victims (we remember of course previous discourse on victims), those who are guilty of some sort of misdeed (either by actually committing atrocities or by simply ignoring said commissions) tend to fall into three categories, based on my observations of ex-Nazis (and other assorted jerks).

First off, there are those, thankfully few, who either are in complete denial or who don't see anything wrong with what they did. Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes falls into this category; you can readily see him at a war crimes tribunal testifying, "I did nothing. I saw nothing. I know nothing." There are also those misguided people who still really believe that Nazism was the right thing.

Most people fall into a grey area, which is the second type; everything between one and three. Usually these people are in denial as well, but they will perhaps own up to certain things, while marginalizing them. The epitaph of many Nazis seems to be, "I was only following orders," but, "I would have been killed if I didn't," or "What could I have done? It wasn't so bad," can also be popular. Most people realize what they did was wrong but attempt to ameliorate it somehow. It's easy to understand why, in many cases. Human nature at its finest.

Then there are the members of the third group, sadly also quite few. As I said, most people fall into a grey area, and all one can hope for is that people come closer to this category than the first one. The third group admits their wrongdoing. I don't care whether they have gone to Jerusalem every day and knelt by the wailing wall and begged forgiveness or simply stated, on record, their guilt; they all belong in this third group. Again, there are few of them, sadly. Most people shy away from saying, "I'm a monster. What I did was completely inexcusable, and I can never make up for it." They're hard words to say.

I pity the first group. They're in denial, one way or the other. They're an object lesson not to do bad things, but more than that, it's hard to see. They have no hope for redemption because they aren't even looking for it. One could even bear a kind of grudging respect for the certainty of their views. I don't, but I suppose it's possible.

The second group are a warning, not of the dangers of evil actions, but of the dangers of too many people ignoring evil. There is a great deal of hypocrisy in these people. But be careful lest you judge too harshly, because we're all, unfortunately, far too likely to fall into this second group. As I said, admitting fault without any excuse is hard. The best feeling one can have is the hope that, before they die, the many people who did these terrible things will find a way to admit it, to own up to their part. Even if you are only truthful to yourself, it's a start.

The third group is deserving of respect, but tempered with the realization that just because you admit guilt doesn't make you cease being guilty. It's hard to respect people capable of such evil, but I respect their actions in dealing with the evil they've done. I don't admire these people, I treat them as an object lesson too: how to deal with your own failings. Obviously, one can only respect true repentance; if a Nazi publicly denounces himself and then goes out and secretly murders Jews, that's hardly deserving of anything other than disgust.

The point I want to make is a point which, now that we have a lot of people changing their tones on various topics (Iraq being the biggest example, but there are others), is important to remember. There are some people who will never admit that they've made mistakes or done bad things. There are some who admit mistakes but try to minimize them. And then there are those who own up to them. We have some of all three in the political spectrum these days.

But the point is that, even if you own up to a mistake, you still made the mistake. Even if John Edwards says he made a mistake in voting to go to war in Iraq, he still made the mistake (I bet you probably thought I was going to begin stumping for Mr. Edwards, didn't you? Admit it). It is not a badge of honor to admit failings. It's a show of character, perhaps, but the more important show of character is what you do in the first place, not how you react to having done it. We all make mistakes, and I'm not saying that making a mistake should remove one from consideration as a good person, or even as a not-bad person. Owning up to mistakes is important.

I'm not going to bash any politician any longer. John Edwards is simply one of the more egregious examples of trying to turn admission of error into point in one's favor currently in the public eye. It's not a new story.

Admiration should be reserved for actions which are not mistakes. People who saved Jews during the Holocaust should be admired for those actions. Even people who could do nothing more than simply say, "What the Nazis are doing is wrong," should be admired. People aren't perfect, and every little bit counts. That's something even the most powerless person should remember.