I asked my grandmother if she had any slogans or proverbs that been passed down to her. A proverb that she told me about was one that was passed down to her from her mother. The proverb started during WWII, which was the first time she heard it, and she still says it today as the values still mean a lot to her.

She said that her mother would always say that “People are basically good, even the Nazis”.

Background Info: My grandmother and her mother escaped from the Nazi’s in Romania during WWII, and fled to America. My grandmother’s mother thought that all people had good hearts, even the evil Nazi’s, she just knew that they made poor life decisions, but still had the good hearted humanistic values of every person on the globe, my grandmother now says this when people seem to be mean to one another, recognizing that although people make poor and evil life decisions, they are still people.

Context: My grandmother told me about this proverb at our family Passover dinner.

Analysis: My grandmothers story of how she fled from Romania is something she has told me many times. I was too young to understand many of the things that my great grandmother told me when I was little, so this proverb, that was passed from my great grandmother was very interesting and held good values about the good in people, even if they make bad decisions.