– Doctor Bernard Rieux! – says Katarzyna Włodkowska, a Polish teacher from Piła, when I ask her if she talks to students about decency. He points to the main character of the novel “Plaga” by Albert Camus. – He is a doctor who thought he couldn't give up, he must be strong, and his duty is to fight evil. He claimed that the worst thing that could be done was indifferent to the fate of another person. He said that it was only about doing his profession well. He did not mythologized, did not sacramentally sacrificed his attitude, but he just tried to be decent and honest in his daily choices. And these choices were dramatic – emphasizes a Polish teacher who teaches not only at school, but also on the Internet, where she is known as “a guy from a Pole”.
Literature provides many excuses to talk about decency. Especially the one describing the war and dramatic moral choices, which many people had to face at that time. When this topic appears in high school lessons, Katarzyna Włodkowska watches Marian Turski's speech with her students. – The one in which he said that Auschwitz did not fall from heaven. We watch and discuss – explains the teacher.
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The whole speech of the former prisoner of the Auschwitz camp Marian Turski Material from January 2020 TVP
It is about words that were a prisoner of the German Nazi concentration camp in January 2020 in front of the death gate during the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. He appealed to young people that they would not be indifferent, for example, when someone wants to exclude, stigmatize or push a group from society. Ane of anesthesia and lack of response to evil make contempt spill around faster – warned Marian Turski and called:
Do not be indifferent if you see historical lies. Do not be indifferent when you see that the past is pulled to the current needs of politics. Do not be indifferent when any minority is discriminated against.
Indifference does not go hand in hand with decency.
When it comes to decency, many return to the words of another Auschwitz prisoner – Władysław Bartoszewski, who argued that it is worth being decent, although it does not always pay off … those who do not know how to behave, advised them to behave decently. This thought returns to us in various situations and is recalled almost like a proverb.
“Władysław Bartoszewski is the father of our decency” Material from February 2022 Martyna Olkowicz Facts in the afternoon
Bartoszewski was often asked about these words. He replied then that you had to stick to the rules that you met at home or school, but also in relations with friends. He said that he belonged to the “category of people” poisoned with “public affairs” and therefore he cares about what is the moral and mental condition of Poles. He argued that everyone could become a man whom others consider honest and decent (“Gazeta Krakowska”, 2006). And in his life he faced the challenges that many of us (fortunately) simply can't even imagine.
Daily (un) daily
We hear about decency at various stages of life – at home, at school, at the university, at work or in the church. But we don't always hear the same definition. This is noted by priest Professor Józef Kloch from the Papal University of JPII in Krakow. He says that when we want to describe what we demand from a decent man, we must consider who this particular man is. For example – how old is and what he does.
Father Professor Józef Kloch Tvn24
– We probably mean something different when we say “a decent husband”, and what is different when we use the phrase “decent politician” – explains the theologian and former spokesman for the Polish Episcopal Conference. – Someone who fulfills all the requirements he faces because of age or because of his condition is decent for me. This is someone who can not be accused of in his specific situation or in the position in which he is – says Professor Kloch, adding that this is about reliable behavior, which may be associated with, for example, a sense of duty.
Professor Paweł Łuków, an ethician from the University of Warsaw, in one of the lectures said:
We often underestimate ordinary human decency and we just don't notice. It's a bit like air – nothing special, but you can't live without it.
He calculated that someone who is decent, does not lie, does not steal, does not cheat and returns long, both material and long gratitude.
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