CARITAS

...I think you mean, 'Resist the beginnings.' " "Exactly," I said...

...I had a young student at the university...

...What more do you want...

...said Ulrich, "you are perhaps an old Roman...

...I said caritas...

...But I want you to consider these same scribes and Pharisees as anonymous givers: 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites...

...In the end, most (I can not say all) knew better...

...Do you think I suffered at all...

...The question is not whether the tithe is paid, or whether the Omaha street car token placed in the collection plate in Pittsburgh on Sunday is a bona fide street car token...

...Par exemple...

...The need is great, and the poor must be fed...

...I have read a Good Book lately, and in this Book the scribes and the Pharisees are condemned because 'all their works they do to be seen of men.' I say unto you that anonymous giving and getting is true charity, and not putting the bread in the poor man's mouth so that he will say, 'Thank you, good sir, sweet sir.' " "I, too, have a copy of this Book," said Ulrich, "and the scribes and Pharisees are indeed condemned...

...Do your great corporations give to the Community Fund...

...I am against your hiring the professional social worker to do your loving for you...

...If you loved...

...But that was many years, maybe many decades, maybe many centuries," said Ulrich, "and there were many beginnings...

...Yes, and now let me explain...

...You will think I am heartless if I say, 'Why?' " said Ulrich...

...Que passa...

...I couldn't give him half my steak, but I could vote for Roosevelt, and the WPA got them off the street...

...I think you are suffering now," said Ulrich...

...Would I suffer at all...

...I am for the professional social worker...

...Some gave for love, and some for other reasons...

...His articles appear in Harper's, Life, Negro Digest, and other magazines...

...I mean," I said, "that you say that when you have fed the poor, you haven't done charity...

...Would you say there is no relationship between love and giving bread to the poor...

...I think I would say, not that you should resist the welfare state, but that you should build the welfare community...

...Oh, so you're against the professional social worker...

...So the question is not which is needed and which is not needed...

...I know nothing about America," Ulrich said, "but in Nazi Germany the great corporations were the greatest givers to the Volkswohlfahrt...

...Why, why—for lots of reasons...

...Do you know what you are...

...That is the scientific way, I don't care what you say...

...And I learned, in these talks, something that I think now was one of the beginnings of the ruin of Germany...

...Why did they give...

...Not by this alone," I said...

...And if I hadn't loved that man, I wouldn't have voted for that administration...

...That's what I always say," I said...

...I'm sure you do," said Ulrich...

...They gave it to the Volkswohlfahrt, and the Volkswohlfahrt gave it to the poor...

...The question is...

...Your point, I think," I said, "is that you are against public welfare, the only decent thing the Nazis ever did...

...Why," I said, "should I suffer...

...I saw the trap...

...Well, those are very good middle-aged Roman sayings, but now we can see that though the Romans said, 'Resist the beginnings' and 'Regard the end,' they were ruined because it is impossible, in worldly matters, to know the end in time to recognize the beginnings and resist them...

...I don't know what is meant by the welfare state," said Ulrich...

...There was silence...

...He was proud to say it was given and received anonymously...

...When I asked which poor persons received this bread, my student said he didn't know...

...Did you suffer when you saw that man...

...There must, of course, be organized social work, but consider the professional social worker...

...I did not say charity," said Ulrich...

...I think the Volkswohl-fahrt was primarily intended to strengthen the Nazi regime...

...Would it be better for me if I did...

...It means, 'You can't get to Heaven on roller skates.' " "I think that must be true," said Ulrich...

...I think there is enough pain in the world, but too much pain comes from too little suffering...

...The differences are interesting, but small...

...If you want to love, you must suffer...

...At the time I did not recognize it, at least not so sharply...

...The question is which is greater...

...William Penn," I said, "said, 'No cross, no crown.' " "That is a very nice saying," said Ulrich, "but I thought you would say, 'Ad astra per aspera.' " "I always say that," I said...

...And you give them bread...

...That," said Ulrich, "was in 1937...

...But this," said I, "is Christian charity in its very essence...

...Sei'sdcum," said Ulrich...

...this was one of the beginnings...

...That's all I mean...

...Do you mean I should resist the welfare state...

...If you suffered at all...

...And it says also that though we bestow all our goods to feed the poor, and though we give our bodies to be burned, and have not caritas, it profiteth us nothing...

...I voted for an administration that loved that man enough to give him a job...

...I still say this is one of the beginnings of the ruin of Germany...

...But they were not the type to have murders and pogroms...

...I think the needs of man can be met by love and that they can not be met without love...

...Have you some time while I try to say what I mean...

...Second cousin to one," I said...

...No suffering, no love...

...He always said—" "That the mind of man runs to the immediate...

...The distribution from the treasury was anonymous, but the widow was justified, yea, exalted: she 'hath cast in more than they all.' " "To be sure," said Ulrich, "but she was exalted, not because the distribution was anonymous, but because of her sacrifice...

...I was getting annoyed again...

...You do not resist the beginnings because you don't recognize them, and you don't recognize them because you don't know the end...

...The need for bread was great in Germany and the Nazis fed the poor, but they fed them without love, and in taking over the feeding they relieved the Germans of the necessity to love one another...

...The question is, even when all this is done, is there something weightier that must also be done...

...There was silence...

...They didn't give it to the poor...

...So I can say honestly that I gave him the job and I paid his wages in taxes...

...I work for my money," I said, "and then I give it to the Community Fund...

...And corporations are what we call Seelenlos, or sometimes leblos...

...But the magician made hate come from it...

...When you give to the social work agency, you are relieved of the responsibility of love...

...The Volkswohlfahrt permitted them to give for other reasons...

...I come from a country where, if I may say so, we had a very bad experience with it...

...He had on a ragged topcoat, and he was holding a little child in his arms...

...Capitalism is a way of making and distributing money...

...Work is not suffering, and neither is giving money...

...And what is the worst...

...Such as...

...You fools certainly knew them when you saw them in Germany...

...But," said I, "I would say that this was one of the few decent things the Nazis did, assuming they didn't steal it for themselves or feed only Nazis...

...They were simple and they wanted to believe in something, and of these people there were many, in the beginning, who became Nazis...

...And love," said Ulrich, "does not come from bread...

...Not, perhaps, impossible, but very difficult for most of us, because most of us think naturally only of the moment...

...Heaven is steep...

...But the people who gave bread...

...And so, too, I imagine, was my student, the Nazi...

...But it has difficulties...

...You will pardon me if I say that you sound like those simple people who thought Hitler was a magician...

...I learned that these poor people ate crusts of bread in order to save money to give to the poor...

...I would rather you spoke of the needs of man...

...I hope not," said Ulrich...

...I began to feel, not perfect, but better...

...I give them bread," I said...

...I would not call the Nazi regime a regime of love...

...Let us assume the people were fed without distinction, and also that the food wasn't stolen...

...I think you still see that man at the restaurant window, and this is Christmas Eve, 17 years later...

...You forget that my student was proud that the collection and distribution were anonymous...

...True, true," I said...

...Now you will say, What's that?' " "Quid hoc sibi vult...

...Why, when Hitler was coming to power...

...And they had always done this...

...What more do you want...

...Momentito, I mean wait a minute," said Ulrich...

...And MILTON MAYER, special representative of the Great Books Foundation and visiting lecturer at Cleveland College, is also a lecturer for the American Friends Service Committee, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the Jewish Peace Foundation...

...I think now," said Ulrich, "that I can recognize one very important beginning in the ruin of Germany...

...for ye pay the tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.' " "Consider," I said, "on the other hand, the widow who cast two mites into the treasury...

...Continuez," I said...

...For instance...

...I was still annoyed...

...You seem to say that love comes from bread...

...I don't know about America...

...Isn't there enough suffering in the world...

...Ohne Hast, abet ohne Rast...

...There was silence...

...Such as caritas...

...Omni peccavimus," I said...

...Money can not love...

...Why should I suffer...

...I always say, 'Principiis obsta.' " "That could become monotonous," said Ulrich, "but I think I know what you mean...

...But any fool knows the beginnings when he sees them," I said...

...Ah," said I, "Finem respice...

...If I say it in English," said Ulrich, "you will say I am not a man...

...I was getting annoyed...

...You always say that, too...

...You're an apologist for capitalism...

...You are full of love, but you are like us Germans...

...It says in this Book," said Ulrich, "that we are perfected through suffering...

...These words seem to be a political slogan just now...

...Lifeless things do not love...

...Why, all you mean," I said, "is that before we can change the world we must change our own hearts...

...His father was dead, and the family had had a very hard time...

...Shoot, Luke," I said...

...So you didn't see them in the street any more...

...But this is not my point...

...Fear, laziness, conformity, bad conscience—for lots of reasons...

...That," I said, "is what De Toqueville always said...

...Do you think," I said, "that I suffered enough the night I saw the man in the restaurant window...

...They are the greatest givers," I said...

...Hey, wait a minute," I said...

...Setzen Sie sich," said Ulrich, pulling up a chair for me, "and forgive my English...

...The government agency distributed it...

...Do they live by this...

...These people ate crusts to give to the poor, or, rather, they shared what they had with the other poor...

...For example," said Ulrich, "it does not tell you what the beginnings are...

...And like so many poor people —and like so many rich people— they had become Nazis...

...Why do you give to the Community Fund...

...I think that with God's help you might become that man...

...But before the Nazis, they had done this directly and in person, and now they did it through the Nazis' relief organization, the Nationalsocialistiche Volkswohlfahct...

...Only God has suffered enough...

...That's why the Germans gave to the Volkswohlfahrt," said Ulrich...

...But maybe the night you first saw him you were only pained...

...Perhaps you will let me begin by referring once more to the scribes and Pharisees, of whom Jesus said, 'Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sancti-fieth the gift?' " "They ask for bread," I said witheringly, "and you give them an altar...

...It seems not," said Ulrich...

...What difference does it make if you transfer your responsibilities for loving to your public state or your private bank...

...A middle-aged Roman...

...See here," I said, "I was eating a steak at a window table in a restaurant in the winter of 1931-32, and I saw a man standing outside looking in...

...So I think we must suffer to be perfect...

...Oh, but you do," said Ulrich...

...But this is not the worst, I think...

...Tant mieux," I said...

...My point," said Ulrich, "is that 'these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.' May I continue...

...By caritas, I mean love...

...And when was this...

...But to know the beginnings for certain, I think it is necessary first to know the end...

...No necessary relationship," said Ulrich...

...You mean momentito...

...But you think the needs of society can be met by love...

...Would I suffer more...

...English this means soulless, or lifeless...

...And when was that...

...So much the better," said Ulrich...

...Say it in English, like a man...

...Then it's always impossible to recognize the beginnings...

...Not a Nazi, I hope...

...No," I said, "I didn't suffer because I did something about it...

...A capitalist state without love is evil, and a socialist state without love is evil...

...I made a point of talking with this student because I, like you, never tired of wanting to learn how otherwise decent people could become Nazis...

...But that's in English," I said...

...That is a very good saying of yours," said Ulrich, "and you say it very nicely, for an American...

...No...

...I don't understand about love," I said...

...Oh, so you don't trust the state...

...The worst is that you deprive yourself of suffering...

...But what of the need for bread...

...But hate comes from the want of bread...

...I think ir...