Once, in an attempt to explain the history of his country to outsiders, the Polish poet CzesÅ?aw MiÅ?osz described the impact of war, occupation, and the Holocaust on ordinary morality. Mass violence, he explained, could shatter a manâ??s sense of natural justice. In normal times,
had he stumbled upon a corpse on the street, he would have called the police. A crowd would have gathered, and much talk and comment would have ensued. Now he knows he must avoid the dark body lying in the gutter, and refrain from asking unnecessary questionsâ?¦.
Murder became ordinary during wartime, wrote MiÅ?osz, and was even regarded as legitimate if it was carried out on behalf of the resistance. In the name of patriotism, young boys from law-abiding, middle-class families became hardened criminals, thugs for whom â??the killing of a man presents no great moral problem.â? Theft became ordinary too, as did falsehood and fabrication. People learned to sleep through sounds that would once have roused the whole neighborhood: the rattle of machine-gun fire, the cries of men in agony, the cursing of the policeman dragging the neighbors away.
For all of these reasons, MiÅ?osz explained, â??the man of the East cannot take Americans [or other Westerners] seriously.â? Because they hadnâ??t undergone such experiences, they couldnâ??t seem to fathom what they meant, and couldnâ??t seem to imagine how they had happened either. â??Their resultant lack of imagination,â? he concluded, â??is appalling.â?1
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