Hello, this diary isn’t about me, it is about me suddenly being so frightened, pragmatically frightened by what I read in this piece by Mr. Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker that I had to stop and get ahold of myself.
I found it in my search for news and as I read, a chill went down my spine. I stopped reading as the clarity of his words hit me, called my German wife over and read it to her from the beginning.
This just smacks of truth to me. I’ve lived more than two decades of my life in Germany, speak their language fluently. I’ve sorrowed with them and joyed with them- been angry with and at them. I KNOW them well- and Herr Hitler still affects that people, even the young ones, in their very core.
I’ve sat with family members who lived through that time, watched them cry and tell me of seeing neighbors taken by a government their parents had chosen. Of the fear and the need to know who the person you had to watch out for was, the party person in the village or county who handed out better jobs or rations and punishments according to his own will and whimsy.
I’ve listened to tales of the grinding shame they endured under the occupation, of KNOWING they had done incredible wrong. And not knowing, really, how the hell they had let it happen or how they would ever make good on it. I’ve stood at work, talking with good friends who despaired that the world would ever forget, heard the bitterness in a generation’s voice as they said, over and over again, “Mann, I didn’t do it! I wasn’t even alive! We’ve learned better now! Every time anyone disagrees with us on anything, we are automatically Nazis!”
It’s hard on them.
Mr. Gopnik pieces it together so well, he shows how it happened in a format that let me SEE it. I chilled to my marrow, I read that and I saw- our country now.
It’s almost as though history IS repeating itself and I, a Bernie supporter who has sworn Bernie or bust- I have to say, no, I cannot, not in any measure, allow this man anywhere near American power.
I just cannot. I will not come here and discuss the merits of Bernie or Hillary or Stein or anyone else, I’ll do what I can until things firm up for my candidate of choice but once it IS firmed up- I am pledging to do all I can to make sure someone other than Donald Trump is sworn in as our president next January. I will vote for whoever runs against this man. My word on it.
I don’t want my grandkids to have that on their psyche. I don’t want to be responsible for generations of American people having to repeat over and over and over again We’re SORRY! and screaming inside “It wasn’t US, it was Grandma and Grandpa!” It’s really, really changed their collective psyche. I don’t want to live through what those people, worldwide, lived through.
Thank you Mr. Gopnik- that’s sincere and heartfelt. Your words helped me save me from my own stubborn hubris and pride. I have remembered humility. No matter what else is on the table, we can’t let THIS happen.
Thank you.
Please, share his words. It’s important.
And- peace.