from the eyes of a roach episode 2

Human Conflict: Human Error, The Unknown Defect of Mankind

By: Sam Pernicano

Ever since we created the different countries of the world, as we know it, we as human beings have been creatures of error.  We make errors that we know of and we make errors that we don’t know of.  Let me give you an example of an error that we all remember VERY well and that we all hold true and dear to our hearts, WWII.

I know this is a touchy subject; I don’t want to offend any of you.  I’m just using WWII as an example because I know them quite well.  I'm going to go back to the very beginning, to the rise of Hitler and the persecution of the Jews.  Now this is going to be a summary of an extended period of time, so I might jump around.

In the very beginning when Hitler was rising to power, he had very little control over Germany; though just about everybody knew that he was extremely anti-Semite.  In the beginning before Hitler had even risen to power he had written a book called mien kampf, which basically said what he was going to do to Germany and the Jews before and after he came to power.  Nobody really believed him, but over time he built up the nazi party and made them the majority party in the government.  This eventually resulted in Hitler being given the right to rule Germany with an “iron fist”.

There are some facts that people may not know about Hitler.  Hitler greatly shunned smoking; he hated the foul smell and discouraged his employees to do it.  He also hated the taste of wine, he found it very bitter.  Hitler had a very large fascination in architecture as well and had a secret relationship with a woman named Eva Braun, who eventually became his wife.  How do I know all the information about Hitler I am writing here? Because I read the memoir of his valet, the man who was Hitler's right hand man from beginning to end and whom Hitler was closest to.  Go read a book people.

Hitler made it very clear that he disliked Jews by making laws and rules against them.  Over time he became more and more aggressive, eventually putting Jews into concentration camps and ordering the Nazis to kill them.  For all you out there that think that nobody tried to stop the holocaust, two people tried to kill Hitler by setting off bombs.  The first got off easy, Hitler ordered him to work and make bombs for him.  The second man was part of Hitler’s personal associates.  He killed most of Hitler’s other associates, and badly wounded Hitler, however, Hitler came out alive.

It was during this time that WWII was going on.  It was during WWII that three important events occurred.  First of all, the bringing of a second world war brought up a requirement for new weapons and technology.  Second of all, the USA invented and perfected the atomic bomb.  Finally, and probably the most important of the three, the Japanese bombing of pearl harbor.

Now the bombing of Pearl Harbor was the reason that the USA entered and began to fight in WWII.  Eventually it led to the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan and japans surrender.  At this point though, Hitler was on his last leg and the war was at its end.  When the war ended and Germany surrendered, Hitler committed suicide in a bunker with his wife Eva Braun.  Hitler shot himself in the head with a revolver and Eva Braun killed herself with cyanide.  Hitler and Eva were promptly incinerated by his top associates, which took some effort do to the high winds during the attempt.

After WWII communism began to lose its hold in Europe.  The USA  began to encourage this and the soviet union did not like it because they wanted to keep communism.  This led to what we call the cold war.  This was where the USA and the soviet union went into a “race” to build the most ships, the most weapons, and tons of nuclear arms.  In this war there was no fighting, and at the end the soviet union and the USA made a pact to not fight anymore.

Now I will give you an example of an error that we don’t notice.  Here is an example of human error that wasn’t noticed that happened right under the nazis noses.   Im going to be talking about a sensitive subject: the holocaust, but im actually going to be talking about the stupidity of the nazi’s.  This is again another sensitive example that might upset some people, but stick with me here and we will get through this.

now lets start this talk about the holocaust with a question, how many of you have been to the holocaust museum? For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, the holocaust museium is located in Washington DC.  You can read all the books you want about the holocaust, the diary of anne frank, night, Jacobs rescue, but nothing will tell you the horrors experienced by the jews, gypsies, gays, twins, and others in the concentration camps during the holocaust like the holocaust museum.  I have been there twice and the things I saw there were worse than any story I could ever read.

The holocaust mmuseum is like a sanctum sactuarium, it feels like a sin to speak while walking through it.  People look at all the pictures of the starving people and dead bodies, the various failed experiments, and realize how awful it must have been.  Some people cry, some people gasp, I remember one woman fainting when looking at a photo of a dead child.  What am I getting to?

Well during the holocaust the nazis experimented on all kinds of people.  They would put people under various pain to see how much they could take, they would take twins and run painful experiments on them to see if they shared the same experience, they would beat people to submission or even death for just speaking out of turn, and they would perform experiments on the inhabitants of the camps as if they were animals.  If you were one of the few who died, you got off lucky.  The life of anyone but a pure german was that of turmoil, misery, experimentation, and death on a cosmic scale.

The holocaust was probably one of the most memorable moments in the history of mankind.  So much death, so much turmoil, so much torture, but a choice few made it out to tell their stories.  That is how we know about it today. 

now something that most people don’t know is that during the holocaust hitler tried as hard as he could to get rid of the jews.  In the beginning he sent them out of the country in massive numbers and large numbers of others migrated out on their own.  The only problem wwas that just about everyone wanted NOTHING to do with the jews.  Why? Supposedly it ties back to the jews being the cause of jesus’ death, and you think YOU can hold a grudge.  So what was the unknown error in the holocaust? rebellion.

When hitler first put the jews, gypsies, gays, and other non germans into the concentration camps, they were normal human beings.  they believed in their god, walked normal, talked normal, and slept normal.  first the nazis began to pick off the weak and helpless and execute them, sometimes in front of the other prisoners to create fear.  Then as time went by the people began to starve.  The nazis served very llittle food, and as time went by the people began to fight like animals over the food.  people were no longer human, they were pets of the nazis.  This insanity led to people killing each other over a simple crust of bread.

There were a choice few that kept their sanity through the whole ordeal.  These people learned how to survive in the new harsh conditions, hence, “survival of the fittest”.  These people secretly rebelled against the nazis and helped others sirvive.  What am I talking about? Well first of all, some women would dress men up like women because men were more likely to be killed.  Second of all, some people sacrificed their food and rations to those who needed it more.  Third of more, people took the clothes of the people that died and used it for their own.  Fifth of all, theres oskar schindler.

How many of you have heard of oskar schindler? He was a german buisinessman who, during WWII and the holocaust, rescued and prevented the death of thousands of jews.  He went out and hired jews to work for him, doing various tasks.  He was a very wealthy man and by hiring all these jews he saved all their lives.  There is a movie about this called schindlers list, if you want more on this.

The nazis had no care for the jews.  Their faith lied in their leader, hitler.  Because of their lack of care for the jews, the nazis never noticed them secretly rebelling against them.  Their plan was tto kill them or drive them mad, and while that worked for some, it had the opposite effect on others.  This opposite effect created a will to live in a choice few people that lasted through the whole ordeal.  All the nazi’s cared about was killing and eradicating the jews.  It was this blind murder that created a sstate of stupidity in the nazi’s minds.  Because death waas on their hearts, minds, and souls, they didn’t recognize the life rising and rebelling around them.

While you may not realize it, this is a form of an unnoticed error, but this is an unintended error that has gone by unnoticed.

Lets get back to the subject at hand, human error. Let me ask you people this, have you ever lost a friend because of some mistake you made that you never realized about before it was too late? Now here’s a fun question for all you guys out there, how many times has your girl yelled at you, gotten upset, or stormed out of a room and you either had no idea why or they wouldn’t tell you why and they would just, “expect you to know why they are upset”?

These all tie down to one thing, uninformed errors.  When we as human beings make an error, the majority of the time we don’t realize we have.  Us guys especially don’t realize when we’ve done something wrong.  If someone hurts your feelings and you are upset, the best thing to do is sit down with them and talk it out.  Let the person know that they have done something wrong.  I guarantee that the person may not have even realized that they even made a mistake.

If someone did something that upset you and you just sit there and let it dwell, it will continue to dwell and build.  Eventually, you will begin to feel anger and frustration when you see the person.  At some point you will have to release the packed emotions.  If you are around the wrong person, it could result in catastrophic results.  Think about all the people that you may hurt during the period that you are upset. 

If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, they will feel the same pain you do.  They will be worried sick about you.  If you have family they will be worried as well.  Simply sitting down with the person that got you upset and talking things out can prevent all this.  If you are going to do this, it is important to have a trusted friend or family member with you in case you get upset or emotional.

There is one thing that I need to say that is VERY important.  Girls, if you are upset with something that your man has done, tell him!  Don’t assume that he already knows, because if you wait for him to figure out what he did wrong he’ll be watching the superbowl of 3050 by the time he does.  Us guys are clueless when we have done something that has upset you.  So next time you get upset at your man, before you assume that we know what we did wrong, MAKE SURE WE ACTUALLY KNOW.

When I say make sure that we actually know, I mean, tell us with no distractions.  Take us somewhere where there are no televisions on, make sure we are not listening to any music, make sure we aren’t around any people, make sure that there’s no beer or food in sight.  I think the moon is probably the best place to go.  Think about it this way, most guys have enough air in their head to survive for at least two minutes.  (I’m just kidding guys!)

Make sure that we actually listened to what you said.  Ask us about what you said to see if we listened.  If we forgot what you said, give us some flash cards so that we can take notes and then tell us to write a five page single spaced paper on why we are sorry about what we did and how we are going to make up for it.  I bet you girls would LOOOOVE that, but that’s never going to happen.

Seriously though, tell your men when they have done something wrong, and MAKE SURE that they listen to you.  Because there’s no point in telling the town that the dam has ruptured if nobody is willing to move to higher ground.  The best place to tell them is a private place such as their house, apartment, or dorm.

In the world as a whole, we are born with error in our genetics.  It all comes down to whether we can tell when people have hurt us and whether we can admit that we have done wrong.  Those human beings that have the guts to not only admit their own mistakes, but also the mistakes that others have made on them should truly be given respect.  We all make mistakes, we all hurt people at some people at some point in our life.  Without human error our society could not have ever grown to what it is today.