Word of the Day
Crevasse (n., kreh-VASS)
A deep crack or void, especially one in a glacier. It's a crevice, but a bigger, more serious one.
Gif of the Day
AnimalsHedgehogsSonicRingsThat poor creatureIs that Doctor Robotnik?
Link of the Day
The Japanese man who saved 6,000 Jews with his handwriting
That fantastic title belongs to a great short article by the New York Times about Chiune Sugihara. His story is fascinating: even against government orders, Sugihara wrote visa after visa to help Jews escape the Holocaust by traveling to Japan:
Day and night he wrote visas. He issued as many visas in a day as would normally be issued in a month. His wife, Yukiko, massaged his hands at night, aching from the constant effort. When Japan finally closed down the embassy in September 1940, he took the stationery with him and continued to write visas that had no legal standing but worked because of the seal of the government and his name. At least 6,000 visas were issued for people to travel through Japan to other destinations, and in many cases entire families traveled on a single visa. It has been estimated that over 40,000 people are alive today because of this one man.
With the consulate closed, Sugihara had to leave. He gave the consulate stamp to a refugee to forge more visas, and he literally threw visas out of the train window to refugees on the platform.
After the war, Sugihara was dismissed from the foreign office. He and his wife lost a 7-year-old child and he worked at menial jobs. It was not until 1968 when a survivor, Yehoshua Nishri, found him that his contribution was recognized. Nishri had been a teenager in Poland saved by a Sugihara visa and was now at the Israeli embassy in Tokyo.
In the intervening years Sugihara never spoke about his wartime activities. Even many close to him had no idea that he was a hero.
You can read more about this example of mundane heroism at the New York Times.
ArticlesChiune SugiharaGenerosityWhat we do in life echoes in eternityMundane faithfulnessHands