Then why do we
keep strangling life?
Five stories to make this a better place
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2 Itīs not something those other people did: The Wave, by Morton Rhue
Gordon High is just an ordinary high school,
like all other American high schools. With boring and exciting classes, with
friends and nerds, with excellent students and dumb ones, and with a football
team that hasnīt won a game yet this year.
One of the more exciting classes
is Mr. Rossīs history class. Ben Ross is a young and idealistic teacher, always
in for experimental teaching and therefore loved by most of his students. But
Ben finds himself in a difficult spot when he canīt give any satisfactory
explanation as to why the German civilians allowed the minority of their
Nazi-countrymen to murder millions of people, and afterwards claim to know
nothing about it. Is this something the historians have given up on? Is it
really impossible to explain the behaviour of the German civilians in
Nazi-Germany?
The question keeps bugging him,
especially since quite a lot of his students were positively shocked by the
video he had shown them in class. Heīd hate to let them down, and so he comes
up with an intriguing idea: would it be possible to recreate the psychological
living-conditions in Nazi-Germany? That way, his students might be able to find
the answer to their question by experience!
And so The Wave is born. It
starts off as a game in discipline, but when Ben discovers his students are
hooked (instead of annoyed, as he had expected them to be), he canīt resist to
continue: just to see if it would really work. Strength through Discipline, Strength through Community, Strength
through Action become school-wide slogans, as students from all grades get
involved. Finally, everyone is equal; even the biggest school-nerd ever is
accepted into the group. And Mr. Ross, he is the great leader of it all.
Laurie, a straight-A-student and editor of
the school newspaper, is as enthusiastic about The Wave as all her class-mates.
When she mentions it at home though, to Laurieīs annoyance her parents arenīt
too thrilled about the concept. However, when getting back to school the next
day, Laurie canīt help but notice that indeed there are a few things she does
not like about The Wave. Why are certain students suddenly granted the job of
keeping an eye and an ear out for all activities going against The Wave? Why
canīt she go and see the football-match without bringing the Wave-salute? Why
didnīt this junior student dare to sign his story for the paper about refusing
to become a Wave-member with his name?
Laurie realizes The Wave is
becoming dangerous, and she tries to warn her friends about it. But they refuse
to listen to her; they think she just resents not being special, not being
number one anymore. Laurie is seriously threatened by persons unknown (her
former friends?), and as things are really getting out of hand, even Ben Ross
has to admit his experiment has gone way too far. Kids have been beaten up with
The Wave as excuse, dozens of angry parents are demanding to know what the heck
Ross is doing with their children, and the principal orders him to end this
insanity immediately.
But how can he do that? Will he
have to end it just like that, without them realizing what The Wave was making
them do? Or is it still possible to let The Wave teach them all a lesson for
life?
Ben finds he has only one
option. Itīs far from water-proof, but itīs his only chance. Still, heīll need
assistance from a few students who see The Wave for what it is. But will Laurie
be able to trust the man who started this madness...?
Best
quote: "Fascism isnīt something
those other people did. Itīs in all of us."
The story of The Wave is a
fictionalized version of a scary real-life event in a Californian high school. The
story has been filmed, too. Unfortunately, it was all very low-budget, and the
45 minute movie is far from convincing. Too many essential events, and
especially far too many essential emotions have been cut out of the story. If
you want to experience The Wave, youīd better stick to the book. Fortunately it
has been translated into many languages!
News! It
seems that a new film has been made based on Rhueīs book. This German, more
contemporary version is called "Die Welle", produced in 2007. As far
as I understand from the reviews, the story is based on the original event, but
new elements have been introduced as well elements that do not always
correspond with the original idea. Still, it might be worthwhile to check it
out!
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The
other four stories the whole world should read:
Love is strong; it only cares of joyful giving
In my heart, I feel you are all my brothers
We could really get there, if you cared enough for the
living
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