Psalm 35 - The Girl in the Red Coat

I’ve been asked, “what’s the greatest movie you’ve ever seen?” The greatest movie I’ve ever seen is one that I don’t want to see ever again. The movie is Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Schindler’s List. The film tells one small part of the larger story of the Holocaust is truly a must see but not because of entertainment or escapsim but because it tells a story that we need to keep remembering and never forget, lest it happen again. But there are two moments in the film that I will never forget and it has to do with a single color that you see in the background of the edited image for today.

If you have seen Schindler’s List, you probably know exactly what I am talking about. In a movie that was filmed almost entirely in black and white, there are two moments of color except for the epilogue of the film. One moment is when you see a young Jewish girl in a red coat in the midst of a crowd of other Jews being pushed along by the Nazis. The other moment is some time later in the film when the red coat (now faded and grimy) is glimpsed on a cart with several bodies. That moment...

The Psalm today asks for deliverance from enemies and persecution. Selected verses from Psalm 35 copied below from the NRSV (Fischer did not translate this Psalm in his book)

Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!...
Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life...
How long, O LORD, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my life from the lions!...
Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,
or those who hate me without cause wink the eye...
You have seen, O LORD; do not be silent!
O Lord, do not be far from me!
Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defense,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!...

I wonder how many times this Psalm was prayed, sung, spoken, or thought by those who were being rounded up, put on trains, walked into “showers”, chosen to work - all of whom were dehumanized. Reading the experiences of people like Victor Frankl or Elie Wiesel, praying Psalms such as these was a common experience especially as people were arriving at the camps. As the days, months, and years went by, they continued to be prayed but less and less because basic survival took up every bit of energy that one had.

While I have never visited any of the European concentration camps I have visited the Killing Fields in Cambodia and stood in the places of horrific actions that humans took against others. Sadly, though, places like Auschwitz, Birkenau, and the Killing Fields remind us of how we, as human beings, keep doing this over and over again. As much as we say of the Holocaust, “never forget” we seem to have a short memory. This wikipedia list is a reminder of that reality. Genocides have taken place on every continent except Antarctica in the last 100+ years and they are still taking place today in Gaza, China, Ukraine, Sudan, and Myanmar. And we continue to dehumanize and scapegoat groups of people so unfortunately there will likely be more peoples, places, and numbers added to that list.

That is why movies like Schindler’s List, Night and Fog, Shoah, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful, Hotel Rwanda, The Killing Fields, and so many others should be required watching. They aren’t easy to watch but they aren’t supposed to be easy. But they are supposed to take us to moments that hopefully none of us ever have to enter into personally so that we do all that we can to stop these times from every arising again. Books such as Man’s Search for Meaning, Night, The Diary of Anne Frank also do the same.

It may be chiche but it is so true - those who forget (or don’t know or choose to ignore) history are doomed to repeat it. There are signs that history is being ignored or forgotten today and repeats are possible.

I pray that we never have to remember a fictional girl in a red coat because these horrors are in our past.

I pray that people never again have to lament words like these in Psalm 35 as they reflect a very real moment in which they find themselves.

I pray that we can embrace the fullness of the color, diversity, and vibrance of humanity and this world as a whole.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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