A Belated Lesson From a Murdered Ancestor

Bob Brody has this essay in the WSJ with the above title. The subtitle is “My great-grandfather refused to give $4 to a robber in 1926. Would I have done the same?”

Why my family kept that barroom slaying a secret from me I can only guess. Maybe they sought to shield me from the hard fact that greed and violence can prevail over thrift and industry. But the story could have served as a warning—one that might have spared me a knife to the chest.

Then again, maybe it would have stiffened my resolve. Israel’s bravery could have taught me that resistance in the right cause—no matter the price—is never truly futile.