What the real question should be is, how did he, the speaker, know that shedding his tears during a prayer was the "right" thing to do? In fact, how can we even determine what is "right" to begin with? The ideas of being "right" or "good" are as abstract and subjective as any ideas can be, and yet, we still have these ideas about life and morality with which we can all agree upon.
I think it's safe to say that vast majority will agree that ruthlessly murdering individuals as Hitler did, was wrong. Most of us value human life as being significant, and even if our own lives aren't being threatened, the idea of another innocent person's life being taken from them, stirs up feelings of compassion and empathy within us. Why is it that we can gain a unanimous decision on something so complex as murder which involves so many different factors, ranging from motive to justification, yet it would be nearly impossible to agree on a reason why the speaker cried while he prayed?
Obviously religious differences and personal background will weigh in on a topic such as prayer, but even within the same faith, diverging answers will consistently emerge. Even the speaker and his mentor, Moishe, who shared the same faith couldn't agree on a single reason concerning the appropriateness of crying during prayer. Why is it that our values of morality clearly allow us to distinguish when something is blatantly wrong (using our prior example, we can all agree that the Holocaust was "wrong"), yet those values fail to help us determine whether something is truly "right"?
Hello Chinyere, morality is such a complex idea. I guess it must be in the fact that our morality comes from how we are raised and our experiences like you stated but was the crying and the praying ever beneficial for Elie in the long run. Could he had devoted more of his time on keeping himself inform on current events like the war?
ReplyDeleteI think the crying during prayer speaks to his natural tendencies towards spirituality. He pursues God, and for many people his age, this is perhaps rare... I think the fact that the author included this point about himself as a boy means that the reader should take note of his interest in religion and desire to be close to God.
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