The passing of Elie Wiesel struck me cold. Yes, we’ve read his works. Yes, we’ve written about him. Then, too, like me, you’ve probably pondered the cold realities and controversies of his Holocaust experience. For he was a man. He painted his legacy with slants as he sketched his tales on the page.
I think we must all either love him; or profoundly hate him. His message of peace was profound, but that he was a complex human being (and writer) also means that we all must draw out those threads of meaning that resonate with our experience.
As we stand in memoriam for Elie Wiesel, we see the man as he was — his life, his words, and his stories. But, we also have the ever-more-troubling realization that the world is cruel and barbaric.
