How to resist aggression, violence? Does it make sense to return good for evil? This topical and eternal topic is reflected in his “Memorial Notes” by front-line poet David Samoilov.
The upcoming anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War is an occasion to once again remember those who brought victory to our country. About what they had to go through. And about the evil that was the ideology of fascism.
The words of David Samoilov (real name: David Samuilovich Kaufman) raise the eternal question – how to fight evil. Let’s listen to one of the most famous and recognized Soviet lyric poets, a front-line soldier, who was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the medal “For Military Merit” for courage and heroism shown during the Great Patriotic War.
“You cannot repay evil with evil. For evil has a property to grow. Each subsequent evil is worse than the previous one. But it is also impossible to respond with good to evil, for this means condoning evil, yielding to it. You cannot touch evil with good (good is individual, has individuality).
So how do you do it anyway?
One can fight evil only by steadfastness against evil, non-susceptibility to evil, etching it out of oneself.
Evil can be fought only by creating an atmosphere where evil suffocates, where it cannot exist.
You can’t fight evil one on one, because it is multiple. Good can exist as a single person. Evil is possible only as a collective manifestation, because evil does not have its own will, but only a plurality of wills.
Fortitude against evil breaks this multitude, deprives it of its will.
* David Samoilov “Memorial Notes” (Vremya, 2014).