In my language arts class I just finished reading Night, by Elie Wiesel. I have never read it before, but if you're not familiar with the story, it's written by a man who was in the Buna and Buchenwald concentration camps during World War 2. At the end of the book, the publishers had included his acceptance speech for his Nobel Peace Price.
I am not so prideful to compare myself to the likes of Elie Wiesel, or try to liken my experience in CS:GO as anything even remotely close to his experience in a concentration camp, but this part of his speech reminded me of why this clan is important to me, and why I make a big deal about it every time somebody is an asshole in our servers.
(I know even some clan members disagree with my behavior at times like these, so I thought I would share Wiesel's significantly more eloquent description here, in hopes of shedding a bit of understanding.)
Quote:
I remember: he asked his father: "Can this be true?" This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?
[. . .]
And then I explained to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remain silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.