Remembering

The 20th century came to a close with a shudder, but not with a bang. The bang came in September 2001.

On that day, two colleagues argued over the terror level of their perspectives. One had been raised in Qatar after his parents had fled Syria & the other was an African-American woman who had been raised in the DC area. He argued that these things were so common in the Palestinian neighborhoods that they were deadened to terror attacks. She argued that drive-by shootings & drug deals were so pervasive in poor black neighborhoods that they knew all about it.

They were competing with each other in a game that could not be won.

Tonight, I am finally watching Sophie's Choice. It is SO different than what I expected. I thought the whole movie would be depressing, angry, pitiful and awful. But do you know why I am enjoying this movie? Because it is REAL. As humans in any given point, we laugh, cry & scream. Sometimes, we're up, sometimes, we're down. Although Sophie has experienced horror in Auschwitz, she sometimes dances with her boyfriend. She laughs. Sometimes, she cries. Is she awful for laughing? Is she wallowing when she cries? Is it terrible that she is alive? That she has survived?

all of this has made me think about something we will lose soon - Holocaust & WWII survivors. If I look around at my friends, so few of them ever think about this important experience. Vietnam, sometimes, but that is SO different than WWII. One of the first biographies I read was Anne Frank's Diary - I am setting the stage to read this book to my daughter in the next year. She needs to know about the incredible humanity of the world and the utter sadness of the world. Although Anne Frank died in a camp, she is a wonderful role model for my daughter.

I beg of you - please do not forget the Holocaust - in forgetting, you become desensitized to why it happened.