If you get a chance to read the book, In the Garden of Beasts : love, terror, and an American family in Hitler's Berlin, by Eric Larson, I hope you take the opportunity. It is the true story of the American Ambassador to Germany and his family in 1933 and 1934. Very easy to read, this book is a true eye opener. How did this happen? you will ask many times as you read through. Why wasn't something done to stop this? I don't know the answers to these questions, but, for me, the story raised a lot of other questions. Are we living in a comparable time, where evil is breeding in different parts of the world? Do we have an obligation to combat this evil, to try and stop it?
I have always believed that we should never have sent troops to Viet Nam, Afghanistan, or anywhere in the Middle East. This is not a reflection on the men and women who were sent to fight; they are truly the heroes in all of this, doing their best to protect our country. I think the boys and girls in Washington are to blame for most of the wars we have been involved in. But it doesn't seem to matter who is in power in Washington, the wars drag on.
This book has given me serious pause. There were several times I said to myself that the rise of Hitler should never have happened. What happened to the good people of the world? Is our situation today analogous? What should we do about it? Should we bring all the troops home? My answer to this question for the last several years has been Yes. But now I wonder, if good people do nothing, who will? If good people do nothing, are they good people?
It reminds me of the poem attributed to Martin Niemõller:
Maybe you shouldn't read this book. It could raise serious questions for you, too.First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
The punitive Treaty of Versailles following WWI is what happened to the good people. Perhaps today's good people of the rest of the world could make some effort to find their own George Washingtons and not rely on us so much to fight their battles for them.
ReplyDeleteit would be nice if other countries would help fight against the atrocities that are taking place in the world today, but I think the rest of the world has come to expect the US to do all the policing. And they seem to hate us because of it. A vicious circle if ever there was one.
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