Re: and the winner is...

Marcus Smith (marcus@BETA.LOYNO.EDU)
Thu, 1 May 1997 18:50:03 -0500

I'm blushing with pride at being included as a runner up! In New Orleans
we have a local custom called "lagniappe," which translates into 13 or 14
oysters when you order a dozen. A little extra. So here's some
lagniappe.

As some of you know already, Walker Percy and I were friends from about
1973 or 74 until his death. There are a number of places in W's books
where I flatter myself that I hear echoes of conversations he and I had.
Here is a story I told Percy. See if you can connect it to the tenderness
remark. I can't, but I think it maybe went through Percy's creative
intelligence.

I lived in Beirut from 1964 to 1970. I knew several Jesuits who taught at
l'universite St. Joseph (and i think I met once or twice the current
General Superior). One of the Jesuits (name long forgotten) was German
and once told me about his experiences in the paramilitary organization
that the Nazis developed for young people as a recruiting instrument for
the SS. This Jesuit was selected for this program and with other
teenagers went to a summer camp in the Bavarian mountains. Shortly after
arrival, he and the others were each given a young dog to be responsible
for. Naturally, dogs and young masters bonded. Near the end of the
summer camp (which was filled mainly with songs, campfires, etc. and a
minimum of Master Race indoctrination--although obeying orders was
heavily emphasized), each camper was ordered to come to
the superintendant's tent. There, each camper was handed a loaded pistol
and ordered to shoot his dog-companion. Those that did so were then
funneled into a fast track program leading to an officer's commission in
he SS. Those who were too "tender-hearted" were allowed to leave and to
take their dog home. My Jesuit friend was in the latter group.

I remember telling this story to Percy once and adding a codocil--that
there was, of course, another option which was to shoot the
superintendant, grab the dog, and run like hell. But that is a Wild West
scenario, not one that would have played out in Bavaria.

The moral? Heartlessness and "following orders" that ripped out the
normal emotional circuits had as much to do with the Holocaust as did
"tenderness."

Anyway, lagniappe. I don't know if this story fits in anywhere. And like
the 13th oyster, you can leave it if you've had your fill.

Marcus Smith
Department of English
Loyola University
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
Office: 504-865-2481; Fax 504-866-1966