Spirituality In The Boys In Striped Pajamas

“The Hidden Spring”, The Hidden True Spirituality
The springs streaming in the mountain, moisten the soil, making a good condition for plants to grow there. So does the spirituality for human beings. The spirituality is the pure spring water that moisten our hearts and souls, making a good condition for us to grow in faith. But, one day, “a powerful dictator came and cut off the sources of water, paved them over with concrete so thick that no spring of water could ever penetrate it. The water that people needed would be brought to them by a complex system of pipes.” (N. T. Wright 17) What will happen to people’s judgment on spirituality under this system? After having been provided the controlled water while which is dirty for a long time,
In the movie “The Boys in Striped Pajamas”, the father, Ralf, was a military officer who had a strong power in Nazi Germany. As a military officer, Ralf had been drinking the water contained various chemicals named Nazism. He also provided this kind of water to his family. He was the dictator who ran the official water system, controlling the spring water, the source of spirituality in his family. His desire for stronger power prevented him from seeing the adverse effect on people’s life brought from the bad source of spirituality. He can easily kill a Jewish person without feeling guilty, and he could never understand his family members’ emotion. He became cruel and callous to people and things around him. In his situation, he had been drinking the dirty water for a long time, but he never queried about it, he guaranteed that Nazism was the only true spirituality that people should
Those who may remain conscious about spirituality while they do not have strong enough power to stop things that going wrong, to put things to right. The mother, Elsa, at first she did not know the reality of the concentration camp, neither did she know the truth about her husband’s assignment there, but one day, the truth came out, and she went to confront Ralf. Heartbroken, she could not accept the truth of the things that happening. Although Elsa was provided the bad water, she was still aware of what the pure water is like, how the real spirituality should look like. After the Jewish servant Pavel helped to take care of Bruno, she still said “thank you” to him. However, her voice can not be heard. That is because she as a wife of Ralf, did not have a strong enough power to do what she wanted to do. She tried to stop Ralf, but failed. She spoke out, but did not be heard. Not having strong power, she can not do anything, and the wrong things still went to a wrong way. She was silent. True spirituality was still hidden, and the people was still drinking the dirty