Faith and Fear

Faith and fear. These are relatively vague terms, but seem to be the underlying aspects of both Maus and the Price of Going to Class. As an atheist and a young person with little experience regarding life threatening decisions, I find it hard to even relate to these two experiences. I don't even know if I would be strong enough to stand by any 'belief' I may have. Would I be willing to endanger my life to keep whatever remains of my lifestyle, or more importantly, would I be able to cope with the guilt of caving in?

In Maus, Vladek constantly relies on his strong will to live. He is surrounded by weaker people, such as his depressed wife and fearful mice. In one scene a fellow mouse even betrays Vladek by ratting out the location of the bunker to the cats, which seems awfully repulsive on paper. Even though Vladek is at the direct mercy of the cats several times, he always manages to understand t hat he will live through it. Vladek should be respected for his level-head that many other mice seem to have lost.

This brings me to the article from Upfront. While Menlo students count the minutes that their teachers are late, in hopes that they will get a free period instead, girls in Afghanistan cannot even legally attend school. In the article, the Price of Going to Class, Shamsia Husseini still secretly goes to school. She does this with pride and for a good cause, however. In regards to the supressive Taliban, Shamsia stated, "The people who did this to me don't want women to be educated. They want us to be stupid things." She refuses to be held down by the Taliban, just like Vladek refused to be taken over by fear from the Nazis.

Even though we have the privilage of attending a great school, many of us lose sight of this opprotunity. While I understand that we will probably not be in the same position as Vladek or Shamsia, these stories help us gain perspective and take advantage of what we are given.