Tippet describes Wiesel as a “third voice” in the conversation. According to Burger, once, in a class on Faith and Heresy, a student, whose grandfather had been an SS officer, reluctantly asked this question, “Can any good result from evil and can evil result from good?” Wiesel responded gently and broadly from history but ended by saying, “Never allow anyone to be humiliated in your presence. Whatever happened in the past, we must deal with those who are here now.”
That is such a wise and important challenge: Never allow anyone to be humiliated in your presence. More than ever before, and especially in light of the Atlanta killings of two weeks ago and the humiliation that some indigenous women have recently experienced in our health care system, to name just two issues, we must stand up and we must speak up. May I never allow anyone to be humiliated in my presence.