1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:21,116 Speaker 1: Pushkin, Hey, Revisionist History listeners, I have something I want 2 00:00:21,116 --> 00:00:24,156 Speaker 1: to tell you. This season, we're trying something different and 3 00:00:24,236 --> 00:00:28,316 Speaker 1: releasing revisionist history episodes in two batches. You're about to 4 00:00:28,356 --> 00:00:31,756 Speaker 1: hear the sixth and final episode of the first batch. 5 00:00:32,436 --> 00:00:34,476 Speaker 1: Then we'll be taking a little break so you can 6 00:00:34,596 --> 00:00:38,996 Speaker 1: enjoy your August vacations in peace. The last few episodes 7 00:00:38,996 --> 00:00:42,716 Speaker 1: of the season will be released starting in September, but 8 00:00:43,596 --> 00:00:46,316 Speaker 1: if you're a Pushkin Plus subscriber, which you should be, 9 00:00:46,996 --> 00:00:50,916 Speaker 1: you'll get the last few all at once. Subscribe now 10 00:00:50,916 --> 00:00:54,196 Speaker 1: on the Pushkin channel in Apple Podcasts, or at Pushkin 11 00:00:54,556 --> 00:01:00,956 Speaker 1: dot fm Slash plus. Can we go around the table 12 00:01:00,956 --> 00:01:02,316 Speaker 1: and everyone just say their name. 13 00:01:02,636 --> 00:01:03,516 Speaker 2: I'm starting with your. 14 00:01:03,436 --> 00:01:06,316 Speaker 3: Doors White from Alma, Alma United. 15 00:01:06,796 --> 00:01:10,436 Speaker 4: Ian Rankin from Knox Presbyteria. 16 00:01:10,596 --> 00:01:16,076 Speaker 1: John Carston's Gail Presbyterian Church in Elmira, and. 17 00:01:16,036 --> 00:01:18,756 Speaker 5: I'm Lilianda Rankin, married to Ian rank. 18 00:01:20,356 --> 00:01:25,196 Speaker 3: I'm Joyce Gladwell and unfortunately my husband is no long living, 19 00:01:25,236 --> 00:01:28,956 Speaker 3: but he was very active. I'll be from Elmara in 20 00:01:29,076 --> 00:01:29,716 Speaker 3: Gail Church. 21 00:01:32,236 --> 00:01:34,996 Speaker 1: I went home to Canada to visit my mother a 22 00:01:35,036 --> 00:01:37,596 Speaker 1: while back, and I asked her to invite a group 23 00:01:37,636 --> 00:01:42,356 Speaker 1: of her friends over, so she did. They all showed 24 00:01:42,436 --> 00:01:46,676 Speaker 1: up on a March afternoon. Three school teachers, a flight attendant, 25 00:01:46,916 --> 00:01:50,436 Speaker 1: a family therapist, all somewhere between their late seventies and 26 00:01:50,516 --> 00:01:55,356 Speaker 1: early nineties, all long retired. They sat drinking my mother's 27 00:01:55,396 --> 00:01:58,756 Speaker 1: tea around her dining room table and tried to remember 28 00:01:58,796 --> 00:02:02,356 Speaker 1: the time three strangers arrived in our little town in 29 00:02:02,436 --> 00:02:06,116 Speaker 1: southern Ontario. You know the famous story about my father 30 00:02:07,276 --> 00:02:10,356 Speaker 1: picking people up in Ordle make this up and driving 31 00:02:10,396 --> 00:02:12,756 Speaker 1: so quickly from the airport that they were terrified by 32 00:02:12,756 --> 00:02:17,356 Speaker 1: the time they rock. He was a man of a 33 00:02:17,396 --> 00:02:25,356 Speaker 1: heavy foots, this crazy englishman. We were talking about December 34 00:02:25,476 --> 00:02:28,676 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine, when my brothers and I were teenagers, 35 00:02:29,116 --> 00:02:31,356 Speaker 1: too young at the time to truly understand acts of 36 00:02:31,436 --> 00:02:33,036 Speaker 1: kindness and how they work. 37 00:02:33,676 --> 00:02:36,156 Speaker 6: I think people stepped up when they felt there was 38 00:02:36,196 --> 00:02:38,836 Speaker 6: something that they could do. And that's why, to go 39 00:02:38,956 --> 00:02:42,996 Speaker 6: back to your other question, who helped? A whole bunch 40 00:02:43,036 --> 00:02:46,636 Speaker 6: of people helped me, and they came up because they felt, oh, 41 00:02:46,756 --> 00:02:47,916 Speaker 6: I can do it that I had. 42 00:02:50,796 --> 00:02:54,076 Speaker 1: My name is Malcolm Gladwell. You're listening to Revisionist History, 43 00:02:54,276 --> 00:02:59,596 Speaker 1: my podcast about things overlooked and misunderstood This episode is 44 00:02:59,596 --> 00:03:01,676 Speaker 1: about the time my parents and a group of their 45 00:03:01,716 --> 00:03:06,876 Speaker 1: friends agreed to sponsor three refugees from Vietnam, a teenager 46 00:03:07,316 --> 00:03:10,916 Speaker 1: named Vaughan, his older o King, and a young woman 47 00:03:10,996 --> 00:03:15,076 Speaker 1: named Lelan. Three strangers who showed up on our doorstep 48 00:03:15,116 --> 00:03:15,516 Speaker 1: one day. 49 00:03:20,876 --> 00:03:22,956 Speaker 2: How many people were in your group in total? 50 00:03:25,516 --> 00:03:29,356 Speaker 6: That's almost an impossible question to ask, because if you 51 00:03:30,236 --> 00:03:33,756 Speaker 6: look at it, when we would have a meeting, what 52 00:03:33,956 --> 00:03:37,156 Speaker 6: we might have ten people at the most. 53 00:03:37,596 --> 00:03:39,036 Speaker 2: But he's the people who. 54 00:03:38,916 --> 00:03:42,236 Speaker 6: Were out behind giving the money. 55 00:03:42,556 --> 00:03:44,836 Speaker 2: The people who were there. 56 00:03:44,996 --> 00:03:49,996 Speaker 6: When they came were totally different people. 57 00:03:50,996 --> 00:03:53,956 Speaker 1: Their group didn't have a name. It wasn't a legal entity. 58 00:03:54,436 --> 00:03:57,276 Speaker 1: Everyone said. The minister of my parents' church, a man 59 00:03:57,356 --> 00:04:00,636 Speaker 1: named Jack Boyne, was one of the ringleaders. But Jack 60 00:04:00,676 --> 00:04:03,676 Speaker 1: Boyne didn't do the paperwork acquired by the government. That 61 00:04:03,836 --> 00:04:06,916 Speaker 1: was someone else, and lots of other churches were involved 62 00:04:06,916 --> 00:04:10,516 Speaker 1: as well. Around my mother's dining room, the details were 63 00:04:10,596 --> 00:04:14,276 Speaker 1: vague because they were vague back then. These were ordinary 64 00:04:14,316 --> 00:04:18,276 Speaker 1: people going about a big task by ordinary means. 65 00:04:18,196 --> 00:04:22,276 Speaker 7: And the potlarks and pot larks, and there were a 66 00:04:22,396 --> 00:04:24,196 Speaker 7: lot of people there. 67 00:04:25,036 --> 00:04:28,476 Speaker 1: In the small towns of southern Ontario. Nothing of any 68 00:04:28,516 --> 00:04:35,956 Speaker 1: consequence is accomplished without potlocked dinners. There are an estimated 69 00:04:35,996 --> 00:04:39,076 Speaker 1: twenty million refugees in the world whose lives had been 70 00:04:39,156 --> 00:04:43,596 Speaker 1: uprooted by one crisis after another, the Russian war against Ukraine, 71 00:04:44,116 --> 00:04:48,876 Speaker 1: the US retreat from Afghanistan, the obliteration of Syria. Every 72 00:04:48,916 --> 00:04:51,956 Speaker 1: era has its own humanitarian crises, and in the late 73 00:04:52,036 --> 00:04:55,956 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, the attention of the world was on Southeast Asia. 74 00:05:02,796 --> 00:05:05,636 Speaker 1: After the end of the Vietnam War, when the Communists 75 00:05:05,636 --> 00:05:08,996 Speaker 1: took over what had been South Vietnam, the new government 76 00:05:09,316 --> 00:05:13,956 Speaker 1: turned on the country's ethnic Chinese. Eight hundred thousand people 77 00:05:13,996 --> 00:05:18,236 Speaker 1: fled Vietnam, escaping across the Gulf of Thailand in overcrowded boats. 78 00:05:18,876 --> 00:05:22,756 Speaker 1: Somewhere between two hundred and four hundred thousand of them 79 00:05:22,796 --> 00:05:30,036 Speaker 1: died at sea. The survivors were called boat people. In response, 80 00:05:30,356 --> 00:05:34,196 Speaker 1: a group of Canadian religious organizations approached the Canadian government 81 00:05:34,316 --> 00:05:37,716 Speaker 1: with an idea. The pool of people the Canadian refugee 82 00:05:37,716 --> 00:05:41,476 Speaker 1: system deemed worthy of resettlement was clearly much larger than 83 00:05:41,516 --> 00:05:43,716 Speaker 1: the pool of people the government was actually willing to 84 00:05:43,796 --> 00:05:47,596 Speaker 1: let in. So why not let private citizens handle the overflow, 85 00:05:48,116 --> 00:05:51,636 Speaker 1: Let small groups of people get together bring refugees into 86 00:05:51,676 --> 00:05:56,156 Speaker 1: their communities and take responsibility for finding them homes and jobs. 87 00:05:57,036 --> 00:06:01,276 Speaker 1: The idea wasn't to replace the government's own formal refugee system, 88 00:06:01,436 --> 00:06:02,516 Speaker 1: but too augmented. 89 00:06:05,036 --> 00:06:07,636 Speaker 8: That was a real sticking point in the early years. 90 00:06:08,236 --> 00:06:10,276 Speaker 8: A lot of groups said, we don't want to do 91 00:06:10,396 --> 00:06:12,516 Speaker 8: something that we think the government should be doing. 92 00:06:12,796 --> 00:06:16,116 Speaker 1: That's Brian Dyke, who works with the Mennonite Central Committee 93 00:06:16,156 --> 00:06:18,756 Speaker 1: and the Refugee Hub at the University of Ottawa. 94 00:06:18,876 --> 00:06:22,156 Speaker 8: So they talked about what we often call additionality. This 95 00:06:22,276 --> 00:06:24,996 Speaker 8: has to be in addition to what the government is 96 00:06:25,076 --> 00:06:27,716 Speaker 8: doing already. It's a principle I think the Government of 97 00:06:27,756 --> 00:06:29,156 Speaker 8: Canada continues to hold you. 98 00:06:29,956 --> 00:06:32,516 Speaker 1: The result is that in recent years, the number of 99 00:06:32,556 --> 00:06:36,196 Speaker 1: refugees who come to Canada with private support dwarfs the 100 00:06:36,276 --> 00:06:39,916 Speaker 1: number who come in through official channels, and Canada currently 101 00:06:39,956 --> 00:06:43,596 Speaker 1: resettles more refugees on a per capita basis than almost 102 00:06:43,636 --> 00:06:47,636 Speaker 1: any other country in the world. The Vietnamese refugees who 103 00:06:47,676 --> 00:06:51,876 Speaker 1: came to my hometown, Kang Vaughan and Lelan, were both 104 00:06:51,916 --> 00:06:55,316 Speaker 1: people in nineteen seventy nine. They were all in a 105 00:06:55,356 --> 00:06:58,396 Speaker 1: camp on a tiny island off the coast of Malaysia. 106 00:06:59,356 --> 00:07:07,076 Speaker 9: This is about one kilomeda square and about forty thousand 107 00:07:07,276 --> 00:07:12,356 Speaker 9: Vietnamese refuge I live in that island, so very small. 108 00:07:13,076 --> 00:07:16,476 Speaker 1: That's Vaughan Wuyn remembering this story. How long were you 109 00:07:16,716 --> 00:07:17,716 Speaker 1: in that camp. 110 00:07:19,196 --> 00:07:19,396 Speaker 4: As? 111 00:07:19,476 --> 00:07:24,716 Speaker 9: Then that came for ten months, from January until October. 112 00:07:25,636 --> 00:07:29,116 Speaker 1: Then in the fall they got word they'd been accepted 113 00:07:29,116 --> 00:07:33,316 Speaker 1: to Canada through the private route sponsored by the Rankins. 114 00:07:33,396 --> 00:07:37,116 Speaker 1: Doris White, Joan Carstan's and my parents and all the 115 00:07:37,156 --> 00:07:39,636 Speaker 1: others who came to the potluck dinners in our little 116 00:07:39,676 --> 00:07:43,876 Speaker 1: town in southern Ontario. Tell me about arriving in Canada. 117 00:07:43,916 --> 00:07:44,516 Speaker 1: What was that like? 118 00:07:45,676 --> 00:07:59,356 Speaker 9: Happy, sad, loneley, and worry. Happy because I have a 119 00:07:59,436 --> 00:08:04,676 Speaker 9: contree to accept me. So they opened the door and 120 00:08:04,916 --> 00:08:10,916 Speaker 9: accept a refugee, and I can stack a new life, freedom, 121 00:08:11,036 --> 00:08:15,156 Speaker 9: so I don't have to worry about my past in 122 00:08:15,316 --> 00:08:22,916 Speaker 9: Vietnam or I live in the Kim Sad because I 123 00:08:23,076 --> 00:08:30,596 Speaker 9: still help my father and my auther brothers and to 124 00:08:30,796 --> 00:08:34,116 Speaker 9: assist those there and Vietnam. 125 00:08:34,156 --> 00:08:38,636 Speaker 1: Happy, sad, lonely and worry. I remember Vaughn and his 126 00:08:38,716 --> 00:08:41,076 Speaker 1: brother from that year. They ended up at my high 127 00:08:41,076 --> 00:08:44,116 Speaker 1: school walking the halls in clothes they had been given 128 00:08:44,316 --> 00:08:48,356 Speaker 1: for the unimaginably cold Canadian winter, both of them thin 129 00:08:48,596 --> 00:08:51,916 Speaker 1: and quiet, trying to get an education in a language 130 00:08:51,916 --> 00:08:57,516 Speaker 1: they had only started learning a few months before. King 131 00:08:57,556 --> 00:08:59,316 Speaker 1: and Vaughan ended up going to one of the best 132 00:08:59,396 --> 00:09:04,036 Speaker 1: universities in Canada got good jobs. Their friend the Land meanwhile, 133 00:09:04,276 --> 00:09:07,956 Speaker 1: met another Vietnamese refugee while playing musical chairs at an 134 00:09:07,996 --> 00:09:11,236 Speaker 1: event organized by one of the sponsoring churches. The two 135 00:09:11,276 --> 00:09:14,956 Speaker 1: got married, had children who grew up Canadian. 136 00:09:15,716 --> 00:09:17,316 Speaker 10: I think one of the most fondest memories we have 137 00:09:17,436 --> 00:09:20,116 Speaker 10: with our mom was just a trip that we took 138 00:09:20,156 --> 00:09:21,076 Speaker 10: with her to Ottawa. 139 00:09:21,676 --> 00:09:24,716 Speaker 1: That's Leland's son, David Haw, who teaches at the University 140 00:09:24,716 --> 00:09:25,356 Speaker 1: of Waterloo. 141 00:09:25,996 --> 00:09:28,596 Speaker 10: So back in twenty twelve we went to celebrate Canada 142 00:09:28,676 --> 00:09:32,796 Speaker 10: Day with her and just as a family, and she 143 00:09:32,996 --> 00:09:37,156 Speaker 10: never stopped talking about that trip. So a year after years, 144 00:09:37,156 --> 00:09:38,956 Speaker 10: shard to say, hey, do you remember that time when 145 00:09:38,956 --> 00:09:41,996 Speaker 10: we visited the capital just to enjoy the fireworks and 146 00:09:42,076 --> 00:09:44,756 Speaker 10: just to be with others that are just proud to 147 00:09:44,796 --> 00:09:47,076 Speaker 10: be with Canada. 148 00:09:47,356 --> 00:09:50,316 Speaker 1: I'm sharing all this not just because it's an immigration 149 00:09:50,476 --> 00:09:54,356 Speaker 1: story with a happy ending. This is a certain kind 150 00:09:54,396 --> 00:09:58,716 Speaker 1: of story, a kind that I think we too often overlook. 151 00:10:12,316 --> 00:10:15,156 Speaker 1: I have an older brother named Jeffrey, who lives in 152 00:10:15,196 --> 00:10:17,996 Speaker 1: a town very close to where we grew up. In 153 00:10:18,076 --> 00:10:20,916 Speaker 1: case you're wondering, my brother and I are very different. 154 00:10:21,556 --> 00:10:24,396 Speaker 1: I like to talk about how to fix things. He 155 00:10:24,596 --> 00:10:31,196 Speaker 1: actually fixes things. In a crisis, I waved my hands 156 00:10:31,196 --> 00:10:34,716 Speaker 1: in the air. Jeffrey disappears for an hour and emerges 157 00:10:34,756 --> 00:10:38,196 Speaker 1: with a solution on a desert island. Given the choice, 158 00:10:38,436 --> 00:10:41,196 Speaker 1: you might pick me for company because I could amuse 159 00:10:41,276 --> 00:10:43,876 Speaker 1: you for an afternoon with my theories. But when the 160 00:10:43,916 --> 00:10:47,276 Speaker 1: sun starts to set and you're hungry and thirsty and 161 00:10:47,356 --> 00:10:51,516 Speaker 1: have nowhere to sleep, you realize, oh, I picked a 162 00:10:51,556 --> 00:10:56,996 Speaker 1: wrong Gladwell. Jeffrey was for many years the principal of 163 00:10:57,036 --> 00:11:00,396 Speaker 1: an elementary school in a city called Kitchener. The school 164 00:11:00,476 --> 00:11:04,156 Speaker 1: had four hundred students. If you're an elementary school principal 165 00:11:04,356 --> 00:11:07,356 Speaker 1: in a country that lets in lots of refugees, chances 166 00:11:07,396 --> 00:11:09,716 Speaker 1: are you'll have some of them as students in your school, 167 00:11:10,396 --> 00:11:13,716 Speaker 1: and he did. I called up my brother to ask 168 00:11:13,796 --> 00:11:14,356 Speaker 1: him about it. 169 00:11:15,236 --> 00:11:18,836 Speaker 4: At one point we had I think twenty percent of 170 00:11:18,876 --> 00:11:22,276 Speaker 4: our school population were Syrian refugees. 171 00:11:23,316 --> 00:11:25,516 Speaker 1: You had, so if you had foreigner students are you 172 00:11:25,516 --> 00:11:28,756 Speaker 1: saying you had eighty Syrian refugees in your school. 173 00:11:28,996 --> 00:11:32,836 Speaker 4: Eighty Yeah, eighty Syrian refugees on top of probably another 174 00:11:34,276 --> 00:11:40,916 Speaker 4: seventy to eighty ESL students, immigrants, refugees from other places. 175 00:11:42,196 --> 00:11:45,116 Speaker 4: I think the biggest thing the first thing we saw 176 00:11:45,596 --> 00:11:48,876 Speaker 4: was was trauma Like that was really where it kind 177 00:11:48,876 --> 00:11:52,196 Speaker 4: of hit the idea of a trauma informed approach. So 178 00:11:52,316 --> 00:11:56,156 Speaker 4: when kids are acting out, when they're being violent, or 179 00:11:56,196 --> 00:11:59,796 Speaker 4: when they're crying, or they're withdrawing or you know, maybe 180 00:11:59,836 --> 00:12:03,956 Speaker 4: stealing things, you have to look at their experience from 181 00:12:05,116 --> 00:12:10,236 Speaker 4: camps or from war and say, Okay, maybe these learned responses, 182 00:12:10,276 --> 00:12:13,036 Speaker 4: Maybe these are survival responses, and we have to look 183 00:12:13,076 --> 00:12:15,356 Speaker 4: at them that way rather than looking at them as 184 00:12:15,476 --> 00:12:18,236 Speaker 4: undesirable behaviors that you have to suspend somebody for or 185 00:12:18,316 --> 00:12:18,996 Speaker 4: something like that. 186 00:12:19,916 --> 00:12:23,076 Speaker 1: This makes sense. You're taking kids from troubled parts of 187 00:12:23,116 --> 00:12:26,356 Speaker 1: the world. You have the obligation to deal with the consequences. 188 00:12:26,916 --> 00:12:29,596 Speaker 1: Jeffrey said that when a Canadian kid and a refugee 189 00:12:29,676 --> 00:12:32,156 Speaker 1: kid will get into a fight on the playground, you'd 190 00:12:32,156 --> 00:12:33,796 Speaker 1: have to figure out how to make sense of what 191 00:12:33,916 --> 00:12:37,276 Speaker 1: happened because only one of them spoke English. That was 192 00:12:37,316 --> 00:12:40,596 Speaker 1: a little tricky, but not that tricky. The school board 193 00:12:40,676 --> 00:12:43,156 Speaker 1: gave him lots of resources. He says, there was a 194 00:12:43,196 --> 00:12:47,476 Speaker 1: really brilliant ESL teacher at his school. Plus these refugees 195 00:12:47,596 --> 00:12:48,436 Speaker 1: were little kids. 196 00:12:48,756 --> 00:12:54,556 Speaker 4: They adapted, They learned English incredibly quickly for the most part, 197 00:12:54,636 --> 00:12:59,676 Speaker 4: and then you started to see their personalities coming through 198 00:12:59,716 --> 00:13:03,316 Speaker 4: and it really enriched the school in that way. We 199 00:13:04,476 --> 00:13:10,036 Speaker 4: had an incredible remembrance Day service with students who had 200 00:13:10,076 --> 00:13:13,476 Speaker 4: experienced war and talking about what it means to experience 201 00:13:13,556 --> 00:13:19,876 Speaker 4: war and showing their pictures of what it really is 202 00:13:20,116 --> 00:13:23,316 Speaker 4: like to experience and this is my house, this is 203 00:13:23,316 --> 00:13:25,356 Speaker 4: my house before it was bombed, this is my house 204 00:13:25,396 --> 00:13:29,076 Speaker 4: after it was bombed. I mean, that was incredibly, incredibly 205 00:13:29,156 --> 00:13:34,036 Speaker 4: moving and really sort of brought the whole experience that 206 00:13:34,076 --> 00:13:38,836 Speaker 4: these students had home for the students in the school. 207 00:13:39,476 --> 00:13:42,116 Speaker 1: What about the teachers. Did you have any kind of 208 00:13:42,156 --> 00:13:47,476 Speaker 1: interesting or unexpected reactions from the teachers who were teaching 209 00:13:47,516 --> 00:13:47,996 Speaker 1: these kids. 210 00:13:48,556 --> 00:13:52,116 Speaker 4: No, again, you don't go to that school. That's not 211 00:13:52,156 --> 00:13:55,076 Speaker 4: what you want to do. My job was to say 212 00:13:55,116 --> 00:13:57,636 Speaker 4: to these teachers, look, you need to just get these 213 00:13:57,716 --> 00:13:59,916 Speaker 4: kids into the classroom. You need to make them feel 214 00:13:59,956 --> 00:14:01,756 Speaker 4: at home. You need to make them feel loved, to 215 00:14:01,876 --> 00:14:05,556 Speaker 4: feel welcome in the community, and we'll get around to 216 00:14:05,636 --> 00:14:08,876 Speaker 4: learning when they're ready. That's that's the message you have 217 00:14:08,916 --> 00:14:13,756 Speaker 4: to give, not you know, worrying about whether these kids 218 00:14:13,796 --> 00:14:14,596 Speaker 4: can fit in or not. 219 00:14:15,996 --> 00:14:18,996 Speaker 1: You need to make them feel loved, not worry about 220 00:14:18,996 --> 00:14:22,396 Speaker 1: whether they'll fit in. Jeffrey didn't think that dealing with 221 00:14:22,436 --> 00:14:27,156 Speaker 1: the refugee children required any heroics. It just required lots 222 00:14:27,156 --> 00:14:30,556 Speaker 1: of people doing their bit. A generous school board, a 223 00:14:30,596 --> 00:14:34,316 Speaker 1: really good eesl teacher, and parents who believe that seeing 224 00:14:34,316 --> 00:14:37,156 Speaker 1: a picture of a classmate's bombed out house is a 225 00:14:37,236 --> 00:14:42,116 Speaker 1: valuable learning experience. You open your mind, you open your heart. 226 00:14:48,836 --> 00:14:51,756 Speaker 1: Once you start looking for this pattern of many small 227 00:14:51,756 --> 00:14:54,676 Speaker 1: acts of kindness adding up to a lot, you start 228 00:14:54,676 --> 00:14:57,556 Speaker 1: to see it in all kinds of places. I'm thinking 229 00:14:57,596 --> 00:15:00,276 Speaker 1: about a very moving account that I stumbled across in 230 00:15:00,356 --> 00:15:04,076 Speaker 1: the archives of the United States Holocaust Museum. 231 00:15:04,236 --> 00:15:05,796 Speaker 9: What kind of clothes did you wear? 232 00:15:07,516 --> 00:15:13,676 Speaker 5: I was wearing ordinary. They smelled, stink terrible. I didn't 233 00:15:13,676 --> 00:15:16,316 Speaker 5: have anything except I was veering. 234 00:15:18,116 --> 00:15:20,796 Speaker 1: It's the oral history of a man named chio Reichmann, 235 00:15:21,116 --> 00:15:25,076 Speaker 1: who escaped the Treblinka concentration camp in nineteen forty three. 236 00:15:25,156 --> 00:15:26,876 Speaker 1: He was part of a group that set fire to 237 00:15:26,916 --> 00:15:29,796 Speaker 1: the camp and he slipped out in the chaos, which 238 00:15:29,836 --> 00:15:32,956 Speaker 1: put him and a small band of other escapees in 239 00:15:33,036 --> 00:15:37,956 Speaker 1: the middle of Nazi occupied Poland. Fugitives huddling in a forest. 240 00:15:38,356 --> 00:15:40,236 Speaker 5: I looked like a living skeleton. 241 00:15:41,476 --> 00:15:43,756 Speaker 1: Now listen to what happened next. 242 00:15:44,676 --> 00:15:49,796 Speaker 5: And we decided during deny it to go to a farm, 243 00:15:49,956 --> 00:15:54,076 Speaker 5: to a peasant and ask for food. Some decent people 244 00:15:54,196 --> 00:15:54,676 Speaker 5: helped us. 245 00:15:55,756 --> 00:16:00,196 Speaker 1: They were starving and someone gave them food. Reikmann decided 246 00:16:00,276 --> 00:16:03,236 Speaker 1: that their best hope of survival was to walk to Warsaw, 247 00:16:03,796 --> 00:16:06,796 Speaker 1: which was more than fifty miles away. He meets a 248 00:16:06,836 --> 00:16:10,836 Speaker 1: second farmer who feeds him and give some directions to Warsaw. 249 00:16:11,116 --> 00:16:13,116 Speaker 1: On the way, he runs into a third man. 250 00:16:16,716 --> 00:16:19,796 Speaker 5: The men passed and asked me, are you a Jew? 251 00:16:21,476 --> 00:16:26,796 Speaker 5: I said yes. This Christian man, who was working in 252 00:16:26,836 --> 00:16:32,316 Speaker 5: the opposite direction from where I came, turned back and said, 253 00:16:32,436 --> 00:16:35,996 Speaker 5: I'm taking you to my home. His wife looked at me. 254 00:16:36,916 --> 00:16:41,076 Speaker 5: She ordered me to take off my shild shirt and 255 00:16:41,156 --> 00:16:45,316 Speaker 5: gave me a clean one. You know what she said 256 00:16:45,396 --> 00:16:50,196 Speaker 5: to me, this is my husband only extra sheild. They 257 00:16:50,276 --> 00:16:53,076 Speaker 5: gave it to me. They gave me a hurty meal 258 00:16:53,876 --> 00:16:55,756 Speaker 5: and inquired about my plans. 259 00:16:57,276 --> 00:17:00,596 Speaker 1: Reichman stayed with the family for two weeks. Gaining strength, 260 00:17:01,116 --> 00:17:04,076 Speaker 1: he left them and met a smuggler. The smuggler gave 261 00:17:04,116 --> 00:17:07,196 Speaker 1: him a ride. He got to Warsaw, went to see 262 00:17:07,236 --> 00:17:09,476 Speaker 1: someone he knew from before the war who was in 263 00:17:09,516 --> 00:17:13,236 Speaker 1: the Polish resistance. His old friend was petrified. 264 00:17:14,476 --> 00:17:17,116 Speaker 5: He wasn't able to sleep or even because of fear 265 00:17:17,236 --> 00:17:18,676 Speaker 5: that he is hiding a jewel. 266 00:17:19,916 --> 00:17:22,996 Speaker 1: Reikman told his friend, I can't blame you, But as 267 00:17:22,996 --> 00:17:26,276 Speaker 1: he was leaving, his friend gave him papers identifying him 268 00:17:26,276 --> 00:17:29,636 Speaker 1: as an employee of the railroad. Now Reichman could pretend 269 00:17:29,676 --> 00:17:30,396 Speaker 1: he wasn't Jewish. 270 00:17:31,276 --> 00:17:35,476 Speaker 5: This document saved my life. I used it all the time. 271 00:17:36,876 --> 00:17:39,476 Speaker 1: The story keeps going on and on. A woman and 272 00:17:39,556 --> 00:17:42,436 Speaker 1: her husband let him sleep under their bed. Someone else 273 00:17:42,436 --> 00:17:45,116 Speaker 1: had a fallen down shack where Reikman stayed for a bit. 274 00:17:45,676 --> 00:17:48,556 Speaker 1: Someone else knew an empty apartment in Warsaw and let 275 00:17:48,636 --> 00:17:52,116 Speaker 1: him stay there. He met a watchman befriended him. The 276 00:17:52,156 --> 00:17:55,036 Speaker 1: guard invited him home for dinner, gave him a job 277 00:17:55,516 --> 00:18:01,116 Speaker 1: a place to stay. It was winter, freezing cold the 278 00:18:01,156 --> 00:18:05,076 Speaker 1: final days of the war. Warsaw was in chaos. Reikman 279 00:18:05,356 --> 00:18:08,156 Speaker 1: was huddled with a group of people in an abandoned building. 280 00:18:09,116 --> 00:18:12,796 Speaker 5: We almost did not survive. We were hungry, cold, desplendent. 281 00:18:13,036 --> 00:18:15,676 Speaker 5: But one a night a men discovered a hiding place. 282 00:18:16,396 --> 00:18:19,196 Speaker 1: The man asked them, are you hungry? He took them 283 00:18:19,236 --> 00:18:21,276 Speaker 1: to a warehouse and opened the door. 284 00:18:21,556 --> 00:18:24,756 Speaker 5: And we cared of a couple of hundred pounds of 285 00:18:24,876 --> 00:18:28,796 Speaker 5: food and clothes that lasted this until the day of liberation. 286 00:18:30,476 --> 00:18:33,916 Speaker 1: By my count Cheo. Reichman survived the war because of 287 00:18:33,956 --> 00:18:40,756 Speaker 1: eleven acts of kindness. The keyword here is kindness. The 288 00:18:40,796 --> 00:18:45,156 Speaker 1: biggest act we can perform for another is sacrifice, where 289 00:18:45,156 --> 00:18:48,436 Speaker 1: we surrender something important for someone else, where we take 290 00:18:48,436 --> 00:18:53,196 Speaker 1: a risk for someone else. The step below that is generosity, 291 00:18:53,796 --> 00:18:56,636 Speaker 1: where we surrender some share of our time or resources 292 00:18:56,676 --> 00:19:02,956 Speaker 1: for another. Kindness is entry level caring. Kindness is just 293 00:19:03,036 --> 00:19:08,196 Speaker 1: a temporary suspension of indifference. The biblical story of the 294 00:19:08,196 --> 00:19:11,956 Speaker 1: Good Samaritan is a story about kindness. The Good Samaritan 295 00:19:11,996 --> 00:19:14,796 Speaker 1: finds an injured man by the side of the road, stops, 296 00:19:15,156 --> 00:19:17,396 Speaker 1: bandages him up, and takes him on the back of 297 00:19:17,436 --> 00:19:20,436 Speaker 1: his donkey to a nearby inn, where he gives him 298 00:19:20,436 --> 00:19:23,076 Speaker 1: to the innkeeper with some money to pay for his care. 299 00:19:23,956 --> 00:19:26,436 Speaker 1: The good Samartan doesn't fight off a band of hoodlum's 300 00:19:26,596 --> 00:19:30,796 Speaker 1: single handedly or sneak the injured man past an enemy checkpoint. 301 00:19:31,316 --> 00:19:35,476 Speaker 1: He's kind, not brave. Of the eleven acts that saved 302 00:19:35,596 --> 00:19:39,876 Speaker 1: Chio Reichman's life, almost all are of the good Samaritan variety. 303 00:19:40,316 --> 00:19:44,276 Speaker 1: His rescuers aren't brave. They're terrified. They give him some 304 00:19:44,316 --> 00:19:47,716 Speaker 1: food and a temporary place to stay because they think 305 00:19:47,756 --> 00:19:50,996 Speaker 1: it's too risky to do anything more. This is why 306 00:19:51,076 --> 00:19:54,476 Speaker 1: I think it's so easy to feel underwhelmed by kindness. 307 00:19:54,956 --> 00:19:58,996 Speaker 1: It feels so inadequate, so random. Reikman sounds like he 308 00:19:59,116 --> 00:20:05,516 Speaker 1: just got lucky. When it comes to helping people in 309 00:20:05,556 --> 00:20:10,356 Speaker 1: dire need, we prefer organized, big time, high commitment acts 310 00:20:10,356 --> 00:20:15,876 Speaker 1: of generosity, where we don't leave things to chance. For example, 311 00:20:16,436 --> 00:20:20,556 Speaker 1: America's refugee policy, which is the perfect illustration of the 312 00:20:20,596 --> 00:20:24,796 Speaker 1: anti good Samaritant approach. Nothing is left to chance. Helping 313 00:20:24,956 --> 00:20:30,356 Speaker 1: isn't informal and personal, it's systematized in order to ensure 314 00:20:30,556 --> 00:20:33,116 Speaker 1: that only the most deserving of displaced people come to 315 00:20:33,156 --> 00:20:37,796 Speaker 1: the US. The American Refugee Resettlement Program mandates a health check, 316 00:20:38,116 --> 00:20:42,436 Speaker 1: a background check, an eligibility check, and multiple interviews. The 317 00:20:42,516 --> 00:20:47,516 Speaker 1: Department of Homeland Securities involved, the State Department, the intelligence community, 318 00:20:47,796 --> 00:20:50,916 Speaker 1: all of whom weigh in. The parents get interviewed, then 319 00:20:50,956 --> 00:20:54,796 Speaker 1: the child separately to make sure their stories match. And finally, 320 00:20:55,116 --> 00:20:58,516 Speaker 1: for those few refugees who do trickle through this process, 321 00:20:59,156 --> 00:21:03,596 Speaker 1: there's another layer of bureaucracy to protect them against the 322 00:21:03,596 --> 00:21:07,716 Speaker 1: potentially nefarious intentions of whatever group may be taking them in. 323 00:21:10,516 --> 00:21:13,156 Speaker 11: There's a grave concern that people are going to be 324 00:21:13,156 --> 00:21:15,636 Speaker 11: brought over here and they're not going to be supported 325 00:21:16,796 --> 00:21:20,316 Speaker 11: the way that we would want people to be supported 326 00:21:20,356 --> 00:21:21,276 Speaker 11: in the United States. 327 00:21:21,716 --> 00:21:25,276 Speaker 1: That's David Beer, an immigration policy analyst with a Cato 328 00:21:25,356 --> 00:21:26,956 Speaker 1: Foundation in Washington, d c. 329 00:21:27,516 --> 00:21:31,316 Speaker 11: That they would be you know, living in squalor in 330 00:21:31,356 --> 00:21:37,476 Speaker 11: somebody's basement, or you know, not have enough spoons for 331 00:21:37,556 --> 00:21:39,876 Speaker 11: everyone in the family, so they be sharing spoons. 332 00:21:40,516 --> 00:21:44,836 Speaker 1: You're serious. There is a regulation about the minimum number 333 00:21:44,876 --> 00:21:46,356 Speaker 1: of spoons necessary for us. 334 00:21:46,716 --> 00:21:53,996 Speaker 11: Yes, everything is very carefully monitored. And you know, God 335 00:21:54,036 --> 00:21:57,076 Speaker 11: forbid that you are so lax. It's only to bring 336 00:21:57,156 --> 00:21:58,836 Speaker 11: four spoons to a party of five. 337 00:22:00,996 --> 00:22:03,396 Speaker 1: You can do things that way and tie yourself in 338 00:22:03,476 --> 00:22:06,436 Speaker 1: knots and end up barely letting in any refugees at all. 339 00:22:07,076 --> 00:22:09,516 Speaker 1: Or you can just have faith in the good that 340 00:22:09,556 --> 00:22:12,356 Speaker 1: can come out of the other end of the generosity scale, 341 00:22:12,956 --> 00:22:15,796 Speaker 1: the way it did back in my hometown. When Kang, Vaughan, 342 00:22:16,076 --> 00:22:24,836 Speaker 1: and Leeland arrived, someone with a big house and lots 343 00:22:24,836 --> 00:22:26,956 Speaker 1: of empty bedrooms took the three of them in for 344 00:22:26,996 --> 00:22:30,436 Speaker 1: a few weeks. An apartment was found for them in Elmira, 345 00:22:30,756 --> 00:22:33,396 Speaker 1: a little town where I grew up. Leeland said she 346 00:22:33,436 --> 00:22:35,796 Speaker 1: wanted to get a job, so Joan got her job 347 00:22:35,836 --> 00:22:39,636 Speaker 1: at a local clothing factory. Everyone, including my own family, 348 00:22:39,876 --> 00:22:42,476 Speaker 1: took turns in the early years inviting them over for dinner. 349 00:22:43,156 --> 00:22:47,556 Speaker 1: Was that sacrifice, please? My father had an endless stream 350 00:22:47,596 --> 00:22:50,596 Speaker 1: of grad students from overseas who were always coming over 351 00:22:50,636 --> 00:22:51,676 Speaker 1: for dinner on the weekends. 352 00:22:53,236 --> 00:22:56,716 Speaker 10: It was just to have the people around her like 353 00:22:56,796 --> 00:23:00,876 Speaker 10: your parents, like Graham and Joyce, just to kind of 354 00:23:00,916 --> 00:23:03,476 Speaker 10: welcome her in and to bring her to community events 355 00:23:03,516 --> 00:23:06,916 Speaker 10: and help her learn the language and things like that. 356 00:23:06,916 --> 00:23:10,476 Speaker 1: That's David Hoggin remembering what all those invitations meant to 357 00:23:10,516 --> 00:23:10,916 Speaker 1: his mother. 358 00:23:12,236 --> 00:23:14,396 Speaker 10: For me, you need just to hear stories from my 359 00:23:14,636 --> 00:23:17,436 Speaker 10: mom of just the small things, those mundane things that 360 00:23:17,516 --> 00:23:20,396 Speaker 10: really stood out to her that I don't think people 361 00:23:20,436 --> 00:23:21,476 Speaker 10: would normally even talk. 362 00:23:21,316 --> 00:23:27,716 Speaker 1: About little things, mundane things, not big things. But remember 363 00:23:27,756 --> 00:23:31,596 Speaker 1: the lesson of ChIL Reichmann. Lots of people doing little 364 00:23:31,636 --> 00:23:35,676 Speaker 1: things can very quickly add up to a lot. When 365 00:23:35,756 --> 00:23:38,836 Speaker 1: King and Vaughan were finishing high school, my mom remembers 366 00:23:38,836 --> 00:23:40,956 Speaker 1: that the guidance counselor called my dad. 367 00:23:41,036 --> 00:23:43,636 Speaker 3: And he said, what are you doing with these boys? 368 00:23:44,676 --> 00:23:47,116 Speaker 3: They are in grade twelve. They have to go to 369 00:23:47,316 --> 00:23:53,276 Speaker 3: university because they have got eighty percent in calculus and 370 00:23:53,316 --> 00:23:54,836 Speaker 3: we don't give marks away. 371 00:23:56,436 --> 00:23:59,116 Speaker 1: Just so you know, eighty percent in calculus at my 372 00:23:59,196 --> 00:24:01,356 Speaker 1: high school in those years put you near the top 373 00:24:01,396 --> 00:24:02,156 Speaker 1: of the class. 374 00:24:02,556 --> 00:24:05,796 Speaker 3: Well, Graham had the inside knowledge of where to get money. 375 00:24:05,796 --> 00:24:09,116 Speaker 3: You see, you can get you can get bursaries, scholarships, 376 00:24:09,276 --> 00:24:12,756 Speaker 3: things like that. You know where to look, and so 377 00:24:12,876 --> 00:24:15,236 Speaker 3: he must have pulled a number of strings. Because they 378 00:24:15,236 --> 00:24:20,276 Speaker 3: were both at Waterloo with Graham, and they got their bas. 379 00:24:20,156 --> 00:24:24,036 Speaker 1: Graham had inside knowledge. But then again, Graham was a 380 00:24:24,036 --> 00:24:27,716 Speaker 1: math professor at the University of Waterloo, and here his 381 00:24:27,836 --> 00:24:30,516 Speaker 1: task was to help two young people who were really 382 00:24:30,516 --> 00:24:33,676 Speaker 1: good at math get into the University of Waterloo. This 383 00:24:33,796 --> 00:24:36,676 Speaker 1: was not a heavy lift. And before any of this, 384 00:24:37,076 --> 00:24:39,956 Speaker 1: there was the problem of bringing Vaughan King and Leland 385 00:24:39,996 --> 00:24:42,396 Speaker 1: to Canada in the first place. Someone had to do 386 00:24:42,436 --> 00:24:46,036 Speaker 1: the paperwork. Now, if my mom had to do the paperwork, 387 00:24:46,316 --> 00:24:48,796 Speaker 1: that would have been an act of courage. But Ian 388 00:24:48,876 --> 00:24:50,196 Speaker 1: Rankin does the paperwork. 389 00:24:50,676 --> 00:24:54,436 Speaker 6: I remember having to go down and interview or be 390 00:24:54,596 --> 00:24:57,436 Speaker 6: interviewed by somebody in Duke Street. 391 00:24:58,436 --> 00:25:01,276 Speaker 1: I'm sure it was a complicated process that took many, 392 00:25:01,316 --> 00:25:04,236 Speaker 1: many hours. But my sense is that Ian Rankin is 393 00:25:04,276 --> 00:25:07,636 Speaker 1: the kind of person for whom successfully navigating a complex 394 00:25:07,676 --> 00:25:09,796 Speaker 1: bureaucracy is a of pleasure. 395 00:25:10,956 --> 00:25:14,996 Speaker 6: None of that stuff was anything that's sort of the 396 00:25:15,156 --> 00:25:21,956 Speaker 6: organizing committee delegated. It just was who could do it. 397 00:25:23,196 --> 00:25:25,876 Speaker 3: I'm learning for the first time what your role is 398 00:25:25,876 --> 00:25:30,076 Speaker 3: and I have wondered many times, how was this engineer? 399 00:25:30,276 --> 00:25:32,916 Speaker 3: Do you know? And what were the links with the government? 400 00:25:33,076 --> 00:25:35,156 Speaker 3: Now I'm learning for the first. 401 00:25:34,836 --> 00:25:37,516 Speaker 1: Time if I can break in here. This is a 402 00:25:37,636 --> 00:25:41,756 Speaker 1: very joyce glabal moment, her surprise discovery of some formal 403 00:25:41,836 --> 00:25:45,956 Speaker 1: bureaucratic structure beneath what she thought was just people interacting 404 00:25:45,956 --> 00:25:48,876 Speaker 1: with each other. And then my mom volunteered this. 405 00:25:49,676 --> 00:25:52,196 Speaker 3: I was a stranger and I had to be taken 406 00:25:52,276 --> 00:25:55,756 Speaker 3: in myself. So I know what I felt like, you know, 407 00:25:55,996 --> 00:26:02,596 Speaker 3: going to England as a student and experiencing hospitality from 408 00:26:03,236 --> 00:26:08,516 Speaker 3: churches and organizations like that. So the sense of being 409 00:26:08,636 --> 00:26:20,596 Speaker 3: straight in another culture was something I understood very killing. 410 00:26:22,676 --> 00:26:25,556 Speaker 1: My mother came from Jamaica to England in the nineteen fifties, 411 00:26:26,036 --> 00:26:30,556 Speaker 1: an unfamiliar place, a new culture. That phrase she used, 412 00:26:30,916 --> 00:26:33,076 Speaker 1: I was a stranger and I had to be taken 413 00:26:33,116 --> 00:26:36,156 Speaker 1: in myself is a reference to a Bible verse that 414 00:26:36,316 --> 00:26:40,556 Speaker 1: everyone around that table knew very well, Matthew twenty five, 415 00:26:40,956 --> 00:26:44,436 Speaker 1: Verse thirty five, for I was hungry and you gave 416 00:26:44,476 --> 00:26:47,436 Speaker 1: me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something 417 00:26:47,476 --> 00:26:50,836 Speaker 1: to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. 418 00:26:58,916 --> 00:27:02,876 Speaker 1: Heroic rescues can have huge and dramatic effects, but they're 419 00:27:02,996 --> 00:27:06,476 Speaker 1: very difficult to replicate. The group around my mother's dining 420 00:27:06,516 --> 00:27:10,556 Speaker 1: room table were non heroic rescuers, and there is nothing 421 00:27:10,636 --> 00:27:14,156 Speaker 1: they did that couldn't be done by any like minded 422 00:27:14,196 --> 00:27:15,756 Speaker 1: group of ordinary people. 423 00:27:16,756 --> 00:27:21,196 Speaker 3: So we give credit to those people. Jack Boy and Graham, 424 00:27:21,836 --> 00:27:23,076 Speaker 3: Oh definitely. 425 00:27:24,196 --> 00:27:27,196 Speaker 1: Yes. And you I want you to do all of 426 00:27:27,276 --> 00:27:30,396 Speaker 1: us to read in unison like. 427 00:27:33,236 --> 00:27:37,596 Speaker 2: Chips. 428 00:27:40,276 --> 00:27:44,076 Speaker 7: I was hungry and you gave me food. I was 429 00:27:44,196 --> 00:27:48,396 Speaker 7: thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was 430 00:27:48,436 --> 00:27:53,076 Speaker 7: a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and 431 00:27:53,156 --> 00:27:56,916 Speaker 7: you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took 432 00:27:56,916 --> 00:28:00,876 Speaker 7: care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. 433 00:28:01,676 --> 00:28:04,036 Speaker 7: Then the righteous will answer him. 434 00:28:04,396 --> 00:28:28,436 Speaker 1: Lord, tell me the story about that girl. 435 00:28:29,396 --> 00:28:30,876 Speaker 2: Do you remember? Oh? 436 00:28:30,956 --> 00:28:36,596 Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know if I can tell that story 437 00:28:36,876 --> 00:28:37,836 Speaker 4: and hold it together. 438 00:28:38,876 --> 00:28:41,676 Speaker 1: When my brother Jeffrey was principal of the elementary school 439 00:28:41,676 --> 00:28:45,636 Speaker 1: in Kitchener, one of his youngest students, a Syrian refugee, 440 00:28:46,236 --> 00:28:47,236 Speaker 1: was inconsolable. 441 00:28:48,676 --> 00:28:55,356 Speaker 4: Yeah, she was. This little girl came in to kindergarten 442 00:28:55,396 --> 00:28:59,876 Speaker 4: and she came in on the first day and she 443 00:29:00,156 --> 00:29:06,956 Speaker 4: was just wailing, like just wailing like crazy, and the 444 00:29:07,076 --> 00:29:09,036 Speaker 4: parents didn't seem to know what to do with her 445 00:29:09,236 --> 00:29:13,076 Speaker 4: because they were just at a loss. What's going on. 446 00:29:13,396 --> 00:29:15,756 Speaker 4: We don't understand, and we did, as we do with 447 00:29:15,836 --> 00:29:19,596 Speaker 4: any child who's crying in kindergarten. We work with the parent, 448 00:29:19,716 --> 00:29:22,156 Speaker 4: we'll look after child. It's okay, So we give them 449 00:29:22,596 --> 00:29:27,156 Speaker 4: encouragement and usually they come in. Five minutes later, they 450 00:29:27,196 --> 00:29:30,956 Speaker 4: stopped crying and they're fine, except that didn't happen with her. 451 00:29:31,476 --> 00:29:37,956 Speaker 4: She just kept wailing and it was heart heart wrenching. 452 00:29:39,556 --> 00:29:45,036 Speaker 4: So we went into class and my ESL teacher was there, Tracy, 453 00:29:45,156 --> 00:29:48,676 Speaker 4: and I just said, look, just hold her, and so 454 00:29:48,716 --> 00:29:53,356 Speaker 4: she held her on her lap and she was still 455 00:29:53,396 --> 00:29:57,596 Speaker 4: just crying, and I thought, okay, what am I going 456 00:29:57,636 --> 00:29:59,796 Speaker 4: to do? So I just knelt down in front of her, 457 00:29:59,916 --> 00:30:06,716 Speaker 4: and I just started to hum and I was humming 458 00:30:13,596 --> 00:30:24,036 Speaker 4: that the Universal lullaby and stopped. She stopped crying. She 459 00:30:24,236 --> 00:30:27,476 Speaker 4: was looking at me, just just looking right through me. 460 00:30:27,716 --> 00:30:32,356 Speaker 4: She stopped, She got off Tracy's lap. She took my 461 00:30:32,476 --> 00:30:59,836 Speaker 4: hand and she didn't let go for an hour. She 462 00:30:59,956 --> 00:31:02,676 Speaker 4: walked with me around the school and she had a 463 00:31:02,756 --> 00:31:05,956 Speaker 4: death grip on my finger, and she kept up with me. 464 00:31:06,076 --> 00:31:09,836 Speaker 4: She just ran beside me and kept going and we 465 00:31:09,876 --> 00:31:13,156 Speaker 4: walked around the school. We visited all the classroom and 466 00:31:13,196 --> 00:31:15,956 Speaker 4: then we sat in another little conference room and she 467 00:31:16,076 --> 00:31:19,716 Speaker 4: drew pictures for me, and I was drawing pictures for her, 468 00:31:20,996 --> 00:31:22,956 Speaker 4: and she was talking to me and I was talking 469 00:31:22,996 --> 00:31:24,196 Speaker 4: to her, and we didn't understand what. 470 00:31:24,156 --> 00:31:24,756 Speaker 2: We were saying. 471 00:31:25,476 --> 00:31:29,236 Speaker 4: And then I Finally, about an hour and a half later, 472 00:31:29,276 --> 00:31:32,396 Speaker 4: I took her back to her class and she was fine. 473 00:31:32,516 --> 00:31:36,556 Speaker 4: And the next day the real kid arrived to me. 474 00:31:36,676 --> 00:31:41,956 Speaker 4: She walked into the school and she just strode into 475 00:31:41,996 --> 00:31:45,076 Speaker 4: the classroom like she was ready to take on the world. 476 00:31:45,196 --> 00:31:48,996 Speaker 4: And that was the kid the parents knew. Every time 477 00:31:50,036 --> 00:31:52,636 Speaker 4: I was in the primary hall, in that kindergarten hall, 478 00:31:52,716 --> 00:31:56,036 Speaker 4: and I went there a lot, just wandering around, she 479 00:31:56,116 --> 00:31:58,116 Speaker 4: would be looking at the door, and if I came 480 00:31:58,156 --> 00:32:01,076 Speaker 4: into the classroom, she would launch herself across the room 481 00:32:01,876 --> 00:32:05,876 Speaker 4: and give me a hug. Every time for the rest 482 00:32:05,876 --> 00:32:06,516 Speaker 4: of the year. 483 00:32:07,996 --> 00:32:10,916 Speaker 1: Our parents and their friends open their hearts to three 484 00:32:10,956 --> 00:32:15,436 Speaker 1: refugees in need. My brother witnessed that act and then 485 00:32:15,996 --> 00:32:19,756 Speaker 1: forty five years later, opens his heart to another in need. 486 00:32:20,836 --> 00:32:25,276 Speaker 1: Kindness leads to kindness working. 487 00:32:24,916 --> 00:32:31,636 Speaker 4: With that child and seeing what you can do when 488 00:32:31,716 --> 00:32:37,396 Speaker 4: you show love and support and welcome to somebody. And 489 00:32:37,396 --> 00:32:42,276 Speaker 4: and yeah, that that that that was, I mean, the 490 00:32:42,316 --> 00:32:46,476 Speaker 4: pinnacle of my career. I think in many ways, I'll 491 00:32:46,556 --> 00:32:47,316 Speaker 4: never forget her. 492 00:32:49,916 --> 00:32:51,516 Speaker 1: I was a stranger and you welcome me. 493 00:32:53,356 --> 00:33:07,036 Speaker 2: Yeah. 494 00:33:07,076 --> 00:33:11,396 Speaker 1: Revisionist History is produced by Elobie's Leeman Gesteu and Jacob Smith, 495 00:33:11,796 --> 00:33:15,716 Speaker 1: with Tolly Emlin and Harrison vj Choi. Our editor is 496 00:33:15,796 --> 00:33:20,556 Speaker 1: Julia Barton. Our executive producer is miel Label. Original scoring 497 00:33:20,596 --> 00:33:24,276 Speaker 1: by Luis Karra, mastering by Flon Williams and engineering by 498 00:33:24,356 --> 00:33:29,596 Speaker 1: Nina Lawrence. Fact checking by Keishaw Williams. Special thanks to 499 00:33:29,636 --> 00:33:33,516 Speaker 1: Sasha Matthias and Salmana had Khan for production help on 500 00:33:33,556 --> 00:33:48,996 Speaker 1: this episode. I'm Malcolm Glava.