Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers.
[Susan Sontag]

Last night I watched the Disney Snow White for the first time. At the end, when it goes from the castle-in-the-clouds to the final page of the white book with gilt details and red and blue illuminated capitals, I realized another difference between Germany and here: English fairytales end “happily ever after.” German fairytales end “und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute.” Which translates “and if they haven’t died, then they are still alive today.”