Hypotheticals ...

Hypotheticals ...

the subject matter of table conversations of late, prompted by Gregan's random request to come up with a few good hypothetical questions. My pitiful attempts included:

• "Marry, boff, kill" hypothetical - i.e. pick 3 names and then assign a name to each.
• If you had to choose a friend to eat, who would it be and which part would you Cannibal Lector first.
  
• Which one would you pick to watch out of: ping pong show in Thailand or sex show in Amsterdam.

Hard hitting as you can see.

I'm not certain that the answers that we give to a hypothetical situation, devoid of context, circumstance etc. necessarily reflects what we would actually do.

For example, in the documentary Steal a Pencil For Me (my Thursday night nigel viewing) - a documentary about a forbidden love affair in a Nazi concentration camp - the protagonist Jack Polak was begged by his sister and his good friend on several occasions to spare the bread that Jack had been safe-keeping. Jack's sister was dying. Jack's good friend's son was also dying. The bread was their ticket to survival. The small piece of bread may/may not have saved one or any of them.

Jack said no to his sister. His sister ends up dying.
Jack said no to his friend. His friend and his friend's son are Holocaust survivors.

In the documentary, Jack recounts this story with deep anguish, guilt and tears. You can't help but grieve with/for him. What an excruciating position to be in - not just his bread dilemma but the entire Jewish ordeal in WW2. The 'Final Solution' was so heinous, so inconceiveable, so heartbreaking, so morally deflating, so tragic.

Approximately 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. That is still 800,000 more than the entire population of Victoria.

Jack and his forbidden lover Ina Soep were transported to a transit concentration (rather than a death) camp called Westerbork. Anne Frank was also at Westerbork before she was transported to Auschwitz. Every Tuesday for 2 years, a cargo train of 1,000 Jews left Westerbork bound for the death camps Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibór, Bergen-Belsen and Theresienstadt. Jack would help with loading fellow Jews on the train. He loaded his own parents on the train.

95% of the people that pass through Westerbork died.

Maybe I will watch a less traumatic doco next Thursday. Although there is actually an uplifting and heartwarming pulse that runs through Steal a Pencil For Me. You see, sometimes love does conquer all ...