Baruch Spergel - February 4, 2008
Thoughts on the British
ZF: We had a respect for the-this I must say-for the English, for the British, for-I remember going down into the Underground and there were thousands of people...
BS: Hmm?
ZF: ...were sleeping there. In the Underground...
BS: Yeah.
ZF: ...thousands of people were sleeping there...
BS: Yes.
ZF: We took a bus-we took a, a, you know, an Underground...
BS: There were beds. Every, every, every station in the Underground was occupied...
ZF: People were sleeping
BS: ...by people, uh...
ZF: People walking left their houses there and went to sleep in the Underground and there thousands of people there with children and it was quiet. They were sort of, I don't know. It's, it's amazing. It's, it's a memory of people being there-they weren't-how should I say? They weren't-there were no hysterics. It is-was not an acceptance of the situation but now they're here and here they're safe and that's it and you don't make a noise about things and you don't make uh, none of this crying, "I want this, I want that. Fix this."
Was that a role model for you?
ZF: For me, yes, I remember-but I think my children are very much against this role. They, I mean they say that my-what I expected of them was something that is not normal. Maybe. That's the way I am. Maybe because I lived through a time like that um, when nothing was normal and you no long...you no longer know what normal behavior is.
What's civilized.
ZF: What?
What's civilized.
ZF: What's civilized, yes, civilized, yes.
And do, do you have the same feelings for...
BS: Hmm?
Do you have the same feelings for the British?
ZF: Respect...
BS: For British?
ZF: ...respect for them.
BS: I like the British. I liked them, um...
ZF: I had very good memories of them.
BS: ??? really civilized people. I mean, I think about...
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