Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century
A suprising paragraph from a new book I bought:
Brian Keenan (An Evil Cradling) describes how, after being beaten by one of his captors, his first thoughts of revenge were replaced by something else:
As my anger diminished I felt a new and tremendous kind of strength flooding me. The more I was beaten the stronger I seemed to become. It was not strength of arm, nor of body but a huge determination never to give in to these men, never to show fear, never to cower in front of them. To take what violence they meted out to me and stand and resist and no allow myself to be humiliated. In that resistance I would humiliate them. There was a part of me they could never bind nor abuse nor take from me. There was a sense of self greater than me a lone which came and filled me in the darkest hours.
Interesting. The book’s cover is very dark and gloomy. It gives a gloomy feeling when I read the quotation. Though it seems to be ‘hopeful’ yet it’s gloominess takes it into the shadows.