Almost exactly 20 years ago, I visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. I traveled there with a Jewish woman whose father was, at 15, imprisoned there and subjected to brutal labor and mistreatment by the Nazis. All of his family had perished in Hitler’s genocide. We lit a yahrzeit candle for her father and left some small stones by the memorial pond outside the main Birkenau gateway.
The sign quoting Santayana at the top of this diary is posted in the Auschwitz museum. I took a picture of it as it so profoundly struck me that we in the world have a terrible memory. From the seventy-odd years that the Second World War, and thus the Shoah, had ended, the world has let a slew of Hitlers sanction genocide in their own countries. Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields of Cambodia. The Hutu genocide of their Tutsi neighbors in Rwanda. Bosnia. Darfur. Syria.
Oh, when will we ever learn, indeed.
In less than two months, we U.S. citizens will face the gravest threat to not only our own country, but to the world as well. Voters who casually choose Trump for sheer entertainment value or because their contempt for Hillary Clinton outweighs their better judgment grievously underestimate the enormous gravity of their decision.
So do voters who care more about abortion than anything else, and so want to poison our Supreme Court with activist justices nominated by someone Republican, anyone Republican, no matter how destructive they feel he is on other issues.
So do U.S. citizens who choose not to vote, or throw their vote away on a third-party candidate who’s sure not to win (and can’t even qualify to debate).
I get angry at voters like this—but I get angry at fellow Democrats and progressives even more—when they are fatalist and defeatist, and/or who sit on their hands and don’t lift a finger to help Hillary or our other Democrats have a fighting chance in this election.
With all due respect to the diarist whose current writing is at the top of the Rec list, I strongly disagree with your sentiments.
I, too, have relatives and ancestors who served during World War II. My grandmother, who will turn 94 in two weeks, served in Army Ordnance as a quality-assurance inspector. Her role required that she examine and recommend improvements for the safety and working conditions of U.S. Army facilities stateside. From time to time, she used a special tool to measure and test the safety and efficacy of hand grenades. It was important for inspectors like her to ensure that not only were the grenades safe for Army soldiers to transport, but also that they deployed properly when the pin was pulled.
My two grandfathers, both deceased, also served in World War II. My dad’s father, in the Pacific as a Navy submarine cook. My mom’s dad, in Europe as a Navy Air mechanic. My mom’s dad continued to serve in the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer, and eventually worked for the Navy, until he retired in his mid-sixties. His retirement was sadly cut short as he died at age 71.
Like millions of others allied with them, all of them knew what sacrifice meant. All of them gave what they had to stop the menaces threatening the world on two hemispheres. Although they couldn’t foresee the stream of genocides that would come generations following, their fight in the Forties was not in vain. They contributed to stopping Hitler. They contributed to ending one of the worst genocides the world had ever known to that point.
“The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again” – George Santayana
The time is now for us to learn from history. The time is now for us to take action. Voting for Hillary is a good start, but is not enough. Defeatism will not help us, but getting involved in the fight will.
The worst thing we can do is believe that we are powerless. Hillary’s campaign gets it right. We’re stronger when we stand and act together.
Let’s do this thing. Let’s beat another Hitler in November, and allow sanity and honor to return to the country that we love, and want to make better for everyone.