Beautiful Souls by Eyal Press, Chapter 2: Defying the Group

While continuing to focus on the courageous acts of individuals, Eyal Press takes up the question of group dynamics in his second chapter, “Defying the Group.” The setting of the main story of interest is the Balkans in the early 1990’s and the tensions and eventual bloodshed between Serbs and Croats of the former Yugoslavia. Press’ main character, Aco Jevtic, is a Serb caught in the midst of the terrible battle that waged over the city of Vukovar. We learn of Jevtic’s struggles in Vukovar only later, but first Press wants us to center our attention on Jevtic’s courageous and, for many puzzling, act to save Croats from torture and possible death. Jevtic finds himself among a large group of men captured by Serbian forces; and eventually a Serbian officer who recognizes Jevtic asks him to identify fellow Serbs among the prisoners so they may be removed. Jevtic complies with the officer’s request but does not stop pointing out men after all the Serbs have been identified, instead pointing toward men he knows are Croats but giving them false names in order to save them. Jevtic’s courageous actions save countless Croats, while at the same time placing himself in great danger should his actions become discovered. Why would Jevtic boldly take this course of action during dangerous times of ethnic violence?

Eyal Press outlines the long and unfortunate history between Serbs and Croats in the region of the Balkans. Referencing this long history, he notes that hatred and mistrust find energy from group-think  and from the misdeeds of the past. During the tensions of the early 1990’s, it was far easier (and often safer) to go along with the actions of the group. Press writes, “The outliers who avoided getting ‘sucked into it’ needed to have a vast amount of courage, it went without saying, and they also needed to possess fiercely independent minds, since resisting the wave of ethnic hatred that swept the Balkans in the early 1990’s required performing a dangerous and unpopular act of imaginative resistance” (p. 52) We learn later in the chapter that Jevtic received some important gifts from his mother, his independent mind and his belief that people cannot be simply characterized by their ethnic group – get to know people and form relationships in order to understand the person for who they are. Jevtic was able to see each person he saved and understand each person he met through his own eyes and his own experiences – he remained an independent person throughout the war-torn times of the Balkans in the early 1990’s. Eyal Press goes on to describe various historical circumstances and psychological experiments that underscore his points, but one thought I found particularly fascinating was a quote from Lynn Hunt’s book, Inventing Human Rights. Press quotes Hunt, “‘Imagined empathy’ serves as the foundation of human rights rather than of nationalism. It is imagined, not in the sense of made up, but in the sense that empathy requires a leap of faith, of imagining that someone else is like you.” Press adds, “The problem with this form of imaginative bonding is that, in polarized places, people generally stop taking such leaps, particularly when they cease engaging in dialogue with their presumed enemies.” Press concludes this section with another quote from Hunt, “Empathy only develops through social interaction.” (p. 83)

Social interaction is the fundamental element of “community.” To be “in community” with others is to put aside differences in order to come together, grow together, and realize that we are all children of God, created with the intention of loving unity. Our desire to separate ourselves is an act against the One who created us and an act that inhibits our imagined empathy toward others, as Hunt says.

Questions for reflection:

• Consider a time when you participated in a group and felt a strong dissonance with the group’s thoughts or actions: how did you feel and what were your actions?
• Particularly during the time of Lent, how are we invited to strip away the earthly wrappings that surround us (and sometimes confuse and trouble our hearts) and return to the simple, yet courageous, message of following God’s love through word and deed?