A Boring Evening at Home: Alison Hull

Gerda Weissman Klein, a survivor of the Holocaust, visited Alaska last year. In her book, A Boring Evening at Home, Mrs. Klein reflects on her life before and after her years in World War II camps. She tells this story of her son, James.

"He and his friend Andy had found a few small tadpoles, and each of the boys made a small pond. ... One morning Jimmy came back from the beach, his huge blue eyes brimming with tears. ...that morning he had felt so sorry for the tadpoles that he had decided to release them. ... He was facing a dilemma. He had freed Andy's tadpoles as well! Did he have the right to do so? When I asked why he hadn't consulted Andy before granting the tadpoles their freedom, his argument was that Andy probably would not have agreed to restore the tadpoles to Lake Erie. That was not enough, however. The next question was one of morality. Who had greater rights: the tadpoles or Andy?"