Sunday, December 21, 2014

Rabbits Nibbling in a Field of Clover

"Rabbits nibbling in a field of clover display no corporate concern when a weasel slips in among them. Seemingly their caution is only enough to register brief personal alarm. Individually anxious, the rabbits hastily hop aside from the path the quiet weasel is pursuing towards his selected victim. Crouched in hiding, they are still, heedless to the piteous death cry of their fellow. When the weasel has gone, the remaining rabbits soon present a tableau of contentment on the meadow, a pretty pastel in fawn and green.
   I keep picturing the Germans of my own kind, people privileged to some education, as rabbits. My image would have been truer if I had seen the company of liberals the world over as rabbits of a clover field, myself among them."

~Nora Waln, Reaching for the Stars.

While helping my parents clean out my grandfather's house, I stumbled across the book Reaching for the Stars. It was written in 1937 by an American woman who had moved to Germany in 1934, and is a firsthand account of the attitudes of the German people as they welcomed in their new Führer as Leader and Chancellor of Germany. I'm only in the first few chapters of the book, but so far it's proving a very intriguing read.  I found Nora's analogy of people as rabbits to be both arresting and self aware, and it makes me think how often we all are mere rabbits in the field, turning a blind eye to the weasels amongst us.

1 comment:

corrie said...

this was one of my favorite books when I was a little girl (maybe pre-teen). I still have my original copy.