Stop and think about this for a moment: The only reason you are alive today is because a series of your ancestors cheated death.
It’s a fascinating thought. But you know it’s true. Just by our own close calls, we know that death could have come to us at any number of times. Which makes Leah’s story of how her family escaped the Nazi genocide all that more fascinating.
Back in the 1930s, Leah’s relatives lived in a small town in western Russia. The family was well-off enough to have a maid, and one night this person was left alone with the baby (the girl who would eventually become Leah’s grandmother).
Now this maid had a boyfriend. He would come by on the street sometimes and the two of them would strike up a conversation out of the window. But on this particular night, charged with watching the infant, the maid got distracted and the babe fell to the floor.
Leah’s great grandmother rushed into the room, startled by the noise, to find the baby on the floor and the maid at the window. So in a rage, this woman rushed on the maid, lifted her and, in classic Russian fashion, defenestrated her. (Apparently throwing people out of windows was popular enough to deserve it’s own name in Russia.)
While the maid was at fault for carelessness, sending the poor woman to the hospital with broken bones was hardly a just punishment for the crime. So the news of what had happened caused quite a scandal. The town wanted justice and Leah’s great grandmother was not going to get away with attempted murder.
In this town, Leah’s great grandfather was an important man. Yet even he couldn’t smooth over the offense. So instead, he pleaded another option. He told the town elders that if they would let his wife go, he would take the entire family from Russia and move to America, never to trouble them again. Some back-room dealing ensued and finally the family made their escape and emigrated.
It was only three months later that the Nazi’s invaded. And in one of the most horrific acts of World War II, the SS made the men dig a mass grave, lined up the entire town in front of it, and murdered every living soul. No one survived.
It’s sobering when you hear stories like this. Good acts, bad acts — in the end it’s not always the quality of one’s behavior that determines living and dying, but forces outside of our control. Normally you would say that the criminal was Leah’s grandmother. But in this case her actions set in motion a series of events that ultimately saved her entire family and three subsequent generations from annihilation by a greater evil. Who is to say what’s right or wrong here?
For me, this is a powerful lesson in acceptance and gratitude. And as the alcoholics say, “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Robert Knorpp is host of The BeanCast Marketing Podcast at thebeancast.com and is President of The Cool Beans Group, a marketing strategy consultancy based in New York City. He likes laughing even more than breathing. You can follow the madness on Twitter at twitter.com/BobKnorpp.
