“Those who think in highly systematic ways often have lower-than-average empathy responses.” (Nat. Geo. Psychopaths vs. Empaths Page 12). The people concerned itself more with their own lives and their own being. Any story told, whether a bystander or a victim, could be judged, or graded on the Empathy Scale, would be a hero to Oskar Schindler.
A hero doesn’t always have to be extraordinary. They may be anyone, like Schindler, for any aspect of society. Schindler was a farm machinery owner who joined the Nazi party and then employed more than 1,100 polish Jews to protect them from concentration camps. Schindler never did anything unusual before the war, nor did he do it after the war. But his heroism was extracted during the high tension of the war.
“Schindler could not forget what he saw that day. It led them to deal with the Nazis in a different way.” (Schindler’s List Page 392). Since Schindler has never done anything before or after the war, he may not be considered an extreme altruist, but he was certainly an extreme altruist in the war. Schindler would have scored a 65-75 like Marion Pritchard on the Empathy Spectrum.
An old saying heard by many is “desperate times call for desperate measures.” -Unknown. The Empathy Spectrum, Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy, and Kohlberg’s Morality Scale are how society is capable of analyzing and recognizing why these types of people behave on the basis of the chaotic circumstances they face. “…don’t give yourselves to brutes – men who despise you – enslave you – who regiment your lives – tell you what to do – what to think and what to feel!”- Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator.
The quote can be interpreted in many different ways, and one of them is that it means that people should stand up against acts of immorality. All it takes is the hearts of the few to stand strong, against the many, even if they are the only light in the darkness. Not only do these acts demonstrate the darkness concealed in the minds of all, but it also reveals how the world can change and how people can be empowered when the darkness consumes other people’s hearts.
