A mishi-mash of these lines come to mind a lot.. from
Primo Levi's
If This Is A Man or
Survival in Auschwitz. "If it weren’t for the hunger! ... human nature is such that sorrows and sufferings simultaneously endured do not add up to a whole in our consciousness but hide, the lesser behind the greater, according to a definite law of perspective... this is the reason that so often in free life one hears it said that man is never content... when this most immediate cause of unhappiness comes to an end, we are painfully surprised to see that behind it lies another one, and in reality a whole series of other ones..."
.> Today is a good day. We look around like blind people who have recovered their sight, and we look at one another. None of us have seen the others in sunlight: someone smiles. If it weren’t for the hunger!
For human nature is such that sorrows and sufferings simultaneously endured do not add up to a whole in our consciousness but hide, the lesser behind the greater, according to a definite law of perspective. This is providential and allows us to survive in the camp. And this is the reason that so often in free life one hears it said that man is never content. In fact, it is a question not of a human incapacity for a state of absolute happiness but of an ever insufficient knowledge of the complex nature of the state of unhappiness; so that the single name of its major cause is given to all its causes, which are numerous and arranged hierarchically. And when this most immediate cause of unhappiness comes to an end, we are painfully surprised to see that behind it lies another one, and in reality a whole series of other ones...
Today there are fifty liters and we are fifteen, Kapo and Vorarbeiter included. This means three liters each: we’ll have one at midday, in addition to the normal ration, and we’ll come back to the barrack in turns for the two others during the afternoon, and be granted an extra five-minute break to fill ourselves up.
What more could one want? Even our work seems light...
At sunset, the siren of the Feierabend sounds, marking the end of work; and, as we are all sated, at least for a few hours, no quarrels arise, we feel good, the Kapo feels no urge to hit us, and we are able to think of our mothers and wives, which usually does not happen. For a few hours we can be unhappy in the manner of free men.
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PrimoLevi #
PrimoLeviOnUnHappiness #
SurvivalInAuschwitz #
UnhappyInTheMannerOfFreeMen
