From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Tue Feb 18 2003 - 07:56:17 GMT
Dear Erin,
You asked 16 Feb 2003 15:45:54 -0500 for my comments -as a pacifist- to
'High Noon' which you summarized 17 Feb 2003 12:07:33 -0500 with:
'This Quaker woman is in a position forced to choose between violence and
saving her husband. ...
It's starts off with their wedding and their plans to leave town when the
new sheriff arrives the next day:
His new bride has firm, pacifist Quaker convictions that deplore violence,
and he will be putting away his marshal's star in his last act in office.
... they get word that somebody the sheriff had put in jail is out coming to
get revenge. ...
Quaker wife wants to leave town, sheriff doesn't want to run.. there is a
lot of struggling with this:
Kane: Look Amy, this is my town. I've got friends here. I'll swear in a
bunch of special deputies and with a posse behind me, maybe there won't even
be any trouble.
Amy: You know there'll be trouble.
Kane: Then, it's better to have it here. I'm sorry, honey, I know how you
feel about it.
Amy: Do you?
Kane: Of course I do. I know it's against your religion and all. Sure I know
how you feel.
Amy: But you're doing it just the same. Oh Will, we were married just a few
minutes ago. We've got our whole lives ahead of us. Doesn't that mean
anything to you?
Kane: You know I've only got an hour and I've got lots to do. Stay at the
hotel until it's over.
Amy: No, I won't be here when it's over. You're asking me to wait an hour to
find out if I'm going to be a wife or a widow. I say it's too long to wait.
I won't do it...I mean it. If you won't go with me now, I'll be on that
train when it leaves here.
Kane: (resolutely) I've got to stay.
No one is willing to help the sheriff and his wife waiting for the train to
leave hears shots and ends up helping him:
Kane's wife is the only one to risk her life, putting aside her pacifist
beliefs to kill one of the gunslingers in order to protect her husband and
save his life.
There is no time for triumphant celebration - there's is a hollow victory.
Kane helps Amy board their packed buggy, brought to them by the faithful
teenage boy. Then, he disdainfully looks around, reaches for his "tin"
badge, takes it off, contemptuously drops it into the dusty street, and
turns to leave.
http://www.filmsite.org/high.html '
My comments:
Well, such is (part of) life, if you just paint the static patterns of value
and only point 'beyond' to something like a dramatic 'fate' or 'karma'. Once
having chosen to be sheriff, you can expect such things and even a pacifist
cannot usually escape the force of the biological and social patterns of
value demanding that violence be met with violence. They're only human after
all and these patterns of value wouldn't be 'static patterns of value' if
they were easy to get round.
I don''t know what I would do in a comparable situation. I can only refrain
from formulating rigid principles/plans/possible ways of reacting that I
would choose, in order to stay as open to Dynamic Quality (alias divine
guidance) as possible if ever I happen to find myself in such a situation.
Speaking about the past I can express my trust that following DQ (divine
guidance) will mean acting non-violently.
By the way, the lesson of this film to the Quaker women and those who
identify with her may be, that just avoiding having to face violence (i.e.
leaving town before ...), is not real non-violent action.
Even an arch-pacifist like Gandhi participated in war, as can be read in his
Autobiography 'The story of my experiments with truth':
www.globusz.com/ebooks/mahatma/00000126.htm for his choice and
www.globusz.com/ebooks/mahatma/00000127.htm for his 'excuses'.
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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