Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It's not exactly a review but some thoughts after reading this book and observing current events. Can you imagine life being upended in a matter of weeks? You were forced to board a train to Auschwitz for a new life of unknowns. When you arrived, you were either directed to the left or to the right. You and your family were separated. You were instructed to go right while the rest of your family were instructed to go left. The life for the right group turned out to be half a decade of dehumanizing tortures. As for the left group, they were murdered within 24 hours of arrival to Auschwitz. You learned about the fate of the left group by realizing what all the smokes were rising above the structure your family went into. I was in shock and disbelief when I read about this in Man’s Search for Meaning but this crazy thing DID happen 80 years ago, just a few years before my parents were born. How could this world be so barbaric? Before Auschwitz, most people were living a fairly normal life worrying about paying their bills, raising their family, advancing their careers, etc just like us ordinary beings today. People know there’s war but I doubt people thought about how they could be swallowed by the wars in a matter of weeks started by sinister people who only care about their own power. The whole thing is just insane and ridiculous and you would hope humanity learned its lessons. Nonetheless, 80 years later, we are back to square one. The war in Ukraine is ruthless and absurd. It destroyed a country where hardworking people falsely thought they could live in peace and prosperity. The Russian soldiers are asked to invade and to do cruel things Putin asked them to do: murdering, vandalizing, setting things on fire and destructing instructures that took years to build. I don’t think these Russian soldiers out of their own will would want to do this. What exactly is this evil power force making people do crazy and destructive things? Is it really just Putin? Or somehow our world allows this to happen. This reminds me of the story Haruki Murakami wrote about his father. His father was forced to go to China to fight the war for Japan during WWII. He was a 19 year-old, having grown up in a Buddha temple in Kyoto. Despite the Buddhist teachings, he was forced to go to war by the government. His father witnessed the killing of Chinese prisoners of war and might even be forced to do the executions. Part of the military training at the time was for new soldiers to practice killing POW to get them into “the zone”, to become a competent fighter. His father told Murakami about this and this made a huge impression on him. He could sense his father was deeply affected by this experience for the rest of his life, with grief and guilt. After all, he was complicit. But he as an individual had no choice. If the government forced him to choose war, he could not choose peace instead. If the government goes completely insane, we as citizens have no recourse. As I am typing this up, I am wondering how long the peaceful life we have in America would last. Three months ago most Ukrainian people probably couldn’t imagine what lay ahead. Should I worry about my family in Taiwan? Things can change drastically in a very short period of time. My husband and his family left Vietnam in 1982 to escape communism. They endured several years of communism rule and my father in law was jailed for a couple of years for “helping Americans”. Prior to the communist takeover, the family ran a large rice mill and owned a substantial amount of prime real estate in Saigon. Then Americans left. Overnight they lost all their assets to the communist regime. They went from a materially rich life to a life of hunger and partial homelessness. Young women had to hide to avoid being raped. My mother in law sold her gold jewelry in the black market to get her husband out of jail and the family escaped to America penniless. Who is responsible for all the sufferings? They did nothing wrong. They were hardworking people running an honest business. Perhaps they didn’t pay enough attention to international politics. But the price they had to pay was absurdly high. We individuals are so small and powerless we don’t know what current of our crazy time can swallow us despite our innocence and futile efforts. The thought that we are in control is an illusion. When I think about the great suffering in Auschwitz, China, Vietnam and endless other man-made tragedies, I am so grateful for the peaceful time I still live in and whatever worries I have seem so trivial. If we strive for anything for the world, we should strive for peace.