Thank you, Hallmark


Hallmark continues to be a wonderful source of inspiration. At the end of Courageous Heart I took a phone call asking how I liked it, and it took me a while to compose myself in order to speak about it.

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A very moving presentation, made more relevant by the appearance of the real long-unsung heroine at the end.

Not as effective as Schindler's List, as Hallmark usually sanitizes its presentations and does not dwell on the violence and acute cruelty that took place in the Warsaw ghetto.

While Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, Hallmark forgot to mention that the award was given to Al Gore as the more deserving nominee, for his courage in perpetuating a fraud for his own personal gain. Maybe Hallmark thought that Mr. Gore needed the money more than this brave old Polish woman.

If Hallmark had the courage of Irena, they could have noted "Hallmark believes that Mrs. Sendler should have been awarded the Prize".

At the beginning, Hallmark carefully notes that "some" Poles tried to help the Jews. The word "some" is very meaningful and another example of Hallmark not wishing to offend anyone.



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I couldn't agree more about the travesty of Al Bore taking the Peace Prize that should have been Irena's.

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A fine suggestion.

Such a gesture would have been noble and honourable, and the right thing to do.

To do otherwise was "ig" and "dis", and leaves one with the impression that greed and ego are superior attributes to courage and righteousness.

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I agree, but in Al's defense, I think it's pretty unlikely he had any idea that Irena existed.

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Finally, an intelligent thread .. thanks for the information. Most enlightening.

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Yeah, "some" Poles tried to help the Jews. Over 6000 Poles were recognized as righteous among the nations - more than any other nation - and Hallmark says there were "some".

Anyway, Irena Sendler was a hero and let's just hope that we will never need people like her saving innocent people again. Make peace, not war.

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Thanks for the insightful synopsis.

As you state no conclusions, I can only assume that it is not possible to explain man's inhumanity when fear is the dominating force in their lives.

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I think it's worth mentioning that the Nazis saw the Poles (and other "Slavic" peoples) as an inferior race; being Gentile in Poland was no guarantee of safety, and the first inmates at Auschwitz (for the first 3-4 years I think) were Polish "political" prisoners and forced labourers. The whole country was viewed by the occupiers as a huge source of slave labour even before the systematic rounding up and murder of Polish Jews, and hundreds and thousands of Polish Gentiles were simply murdered.

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