When is enough enough?

8 January 2007

I was reading about the new Polish Archbishop and the Rev. Janusz Bielanski of Warsaw that resigned over their "cooperation" with secret police in Communist Poland. And it made me wonder, when is enough enough?I mean there are still people that are hunting down WWII war criminals. Now, before someone thinks I either dont believe that the holocaust happened or that I dont think that what happened was awful, I do. But, I also think that justice has been served. At some point you have to let go.

The argument against Warsaw Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, is that he cooperated with Polish Secret Police during the Communist rule. Their basis is that he signed a piece of paper that said that he would. This paper had to be signed before he would be permitted to travel to West Germany to study. Now, Im thinking that if I were a young person in communist Poland and all I have to do to get a chance to leave and go to West Germany to study is sign a piece of paper that states that I will cooperate with the secret police, Im signing and getting the h#*$ out of Dodge!!!!!!
We have here jurisprudence in our legal system that allows for a legal defense of duress or coercion.
Black's Law Dictionary(6th ed.) defines duress as "any unlawful threat or coercion used... to induce another to act [or not act] in a manner [they] otherwise would not [or would]."
I think that most normal people can look at the situation of Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus and Rev. Bielanski and see duress and coercion.
To my knowledge there has been NO hard evidence brought against them where they gave information that led to the detention or death or disappearance of any persons. I also have not seen any reports that they has been 'unlawfull' or 'illegal' in any other manner. And it is this point that I am leading to.If you have men that did or participated or said 'evil' or 'bad' things while trying to survive in a society that was a state of constant duress and coercion, how can you truly blame and try and hold accountable every single individual of that society? Do not get me wrong, persons like Hess and Himmler and Mengele deserved to be hunted down and brought to trial. But, I do not think that every person that wore a German uniform or was a registered member of the Nazi party was a criminal nor should they be hunted down expecially years later.
Here is the way that I look at it if these persons were able to get out of Germany and in their new countries never commited criminal acts then I say give them the benefit of the doubt. I do not believe that truly bad people change and therefore if they were very willing participants they will do these things again and some of them did, but most of them did not.

Now back to the Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, so he signed a piece of paper so that he could leave an oppressed country for a breif time and study in an open society. He then returned to his counrty and served, well apparently, for many years and the thanks that he gets is that he is forced to resign over a peice of paper. A piece of paper that says what? That he agreed to at some time in the future to cooperate with the secret police? Would any of his accusers have shown more bravado at that same moment in time? How many others signed the same piece of paper? Where is the proof that he actually ever cooperated? Where are the list of names of people that he turned over? Where is the blood on his hands?
I think that the 'grudge' that is being held is unfair and unhealthy. I guess that you can say that it is human nature to hold a grudge against someone that has done you wrong and to a degree I understand that, but how do you hold a grudge against someone that has not wronged you personally? And why would you want to? I do not get this, but I know that I think differently. I do not hold grudges, not at all really. As I am typing this I am trying to think of any grudges that I hold and I am drawing a blank.
 It is, however, not in one's best interest to hold a grudge. Why not, you ask? Because when we hold a grudge or hate someone then we act and do things based on that grudge or hate. What we are doing in essence is allowing the person or thing that we have a grudge against or hate to have power that they do not deserve. Think about it if you hold a grudge against someone or something then you will do things based soley on that -- such as if you hold a grudge against an ex and therefore because of this grudge you no longer socialize with mutual friends what have you gained? Nothing. You have lost. You have fewer friends, and the ex has power over you.
The same is true in this instant. The communist ideals still have a power over the people of Poland. At some point you have to let go of the hate and anger and hurt.
Do not forget the injustice; learn from it and prevent it from happening again. But do not let it consume your life, do not let it rule you, do not let it win.