There are only two races

I was listening to Dennis Prager - one of my favorite talk show hosts - yesterday, and he touched upon a concept that I have thought on my own many times, but was never able to fully articulate.

Mr. Prager was talking about the subject of race and racism, when he mentioned the philosophy of Viennese psychiatrist/neurologist Viktor Frankl, who survived the Nazi death camps, although his wife and every other relative of his (save his sister) did not. When asked after the war if he despised the German race because of what was done to him and his family, Frankl declared that he did not, because there are only two races: the decent, and the indecent. These two races cross all lines of color, class, and religion. It's a very simple concept isn't it? Forget black, white, yellow, red, rich, poor, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu; you are either a decent person or you are indecent.

Some callers asked Prager the inevitable question: what if you are a person who has done some good and some bad things in your life? What decides if you are decent or indecent? Prager responded by quoting a Supreme Court justice who once wrote that he couldn't define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. The same thing with decency and indecency. Taking into account the summary of a person's life, it becomes rather self-evident which way to describe him or her.

My whole life, I have stated that I don't care what color a person is. What I care about is how they act. In my own way, I was unknowingly seconding the philosophy of Viktor Frankl, who knew that even in Nazi Germany, there were many decent people among all that evil.

Good Day to You, Sir