Andrea Petzenhauser- Germany

She chose my favorite category of the sis types of episodes that I rotated throughout -- difficult societal and political issues,  which would be made accessible through the artistic rendering.  "Washita", by Kathryn Ford, was an extraordinary piece of truth that connot be misunderstood or forgotten on any level.- Beth


Washita

When I heard the motto of this contest it took me a long time to make up my mind and decide which out of those many fabulous episodes is my favourite. Just a few days after I decided that “What is Love?” is probably what you call “a favourite” Hallmark broadcast “Washita” and I changed my mind immediately. Especially the first part of “Washita” doesn’t represent a typical favourite episode and nevertheless I would like to write this essay about this episode because of a simple reason. It is the episode that moved me most.

In the dubbed version Hank says this sentence “Nur ein toter Indianer ist ein guter Indianer.” which means “Only a dead Indian is a good Indian.” When I heard this sentence for the first time I realised that this episode does not only deal with the cruel killing of Indians but that it can be seen as a symbol for all persecuted peoples in the world.

During the Balkan war a Croatian said almost the same sentence: “Only a dead Serb is a good Serb.” Peoples have been persecuted throughout history but TV Shows like Dr Quinn which are not afraid to raise their voices and tell their opinions and which produce episodes like “Washita” might cause that people think about what is going on in the world or what was going on years ago. And who knows, people might even find the courage to take action and do something against those crimes.

The list of persecuted peoples include so many different peoples killed for no other reasons than their color of skin, their religion, their beliefs, their dreams. Of course we all think of all the millions of Jews being killed under the most dreadful and ferocious circumstances during World War II. But there are so many others. The ones being killed because of their religion, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims and all other people who believe in the Lord, Allah, Buddha or whatever the name of their god is or whatever their beliefs are. The people being killed, hunted and discriminated against because of the color of their skin, the Blacks, the Native Americans and all others who happened to be born what so many people call “not white”. Then, of course, peoples who do not have their own country. The Kurds, Palestinians, Basques, gypsies and all the others tramping around without a real home.

We all know the last scene of “Washita  (part one) ” when Sully is crying while holding the baby who survived. Thinking of this, recalls the pictures of last week's hostage-taking in Russia. More than 330 children, parents and teachers died. But when I saw the children coming out of the school looking for their parents and hugging them when they found them I even cried heavier. Isn’t it weird? I had seen people doing the same. That was just after 9-11. I still remember the reporter who broke the news that a cat and her kitten were found alive somewhere under what was left of the World Trade Center. And he started crying because a cat and her kitten had survived. It just seemed like a miracle at that very dark point of time. Just like when Sully found the baby under No Harm. Nobody had survived. Custer and his men had killed everybody. Everybody but the baby. Everybody but Live In Hopes.

I chose this episode because it made me think- think of what happened in my country only 60 years ago and how it has changed Germany and the whole world. It made me think of all the bombed houses I saw in Yugoslavia, the wall in the Croatian capital built of bricks one for each soldier who had died in the war in the early 1990s. All the people who died in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and all over the world. Yes, perhaps Washita is a “favorite episode”. Not in the way that there are many romantic moments or many good dialogues. Not because Sully looks especially handsome or because Dr Mike’s hair has never been so beautiful. Simply because it made a difference. It made me think of how Native Americans and all those other peoples all around the globe have been hunted down and killed because they are “in the way”, because they are “dangerous”, because they are “different”.

Throughout history there are not only horrible wars, massacres and other cruel situations where people are killed. There are also moments that show us what people who believe in the world and mankind, who believe in their very own and private lives, what dreams and beliefs can do if they stand up and fight in a peaceful way for the “right”. The ones who might be rocked but who find the hope and courage to go on.

Everyone of you remembers the firemen George Johnson, Dan McWilliams and Billy Eisengrein. You might not recognise their names but these three men were the firemen who raised the American flag at 5:09 pm on Sept. 11 at Ground Zero. I am sure you all remember this. There were Hans and Sophie Scholl who founded the White Rose during WWII and who had their very own way of fighting against Hitler and the Nazis. There were all those people who stood up and finally succeeded in tearing down the Berlin wall. Throughout history there have been so many courageous people who have made such a difference to our lives simply because they didn’t give up.

In “Washita” Cloud Dancing and Living Hopes are the ones who stand up, the ones who go on. The ones who tell us that although all the others were killed they had survived and they will go on. Because they believe, because they "hope".

Winning Entry 4