Happy birthday Anne Frank. By my math you would have been 80 today.
It seems we have such a fickle memory for things as a nation, people and species. Granted we cannot become fixated on the past and let that hold us from the future, but we also should not be so quick to jump from one crisis to another. That is the world of cable news. One week it is swine flu, the next it is the economy and then its Sarah Palin and David Letterman going at it. I barely remember a world before 24 hour news coverage, but that doesn’t stop me from longing for it.
So is it perception that we “move on” so quickly these days? I doubt many people will remember the shooting this week at the Holocaust Museum, much less the Holocaust by next June. I think Mel Gibson, that wacky Bishop who was just un-ex-communicated and the Iranian president Beardonotiewearamahjad need to get three riffles and shoot each other in the head. Is that too harsh? The fact that we live in a world where PETA can compare factory farming to the holocaust or W could claim Saddam was another Hitler is revolting. I’m sure Saddam was an evil tyrant, but (hopefully) Hitler was one of a kind.
The one visit I made to the Holocaust Museum taught me two things. The first is that the deli out front is amazing. Why such good food is available at such a sad place is confounding and the second is that whatever we are told about the Holocaust does not so it justice. At one point during the tour, my wife and I had to leave. We vowed to come back later (which we did) but what compelled us to leave was the disrespect of the visitors. A group of African American school kids were joking, laughing and being vocal and obnoxious. I would hope no one would ever go to the Slavery Museum with that attitude. It was at that moment I realized that time may heal all wounds, but it can also cover up what should never be forgotten.
It seems we have such a fickle memory for things as a nation, people and species. Granted we cannot become fixated on the past and let that hold us from the future, but we also should not be so quick to jump from one crisis to another. That is the world of cable news. One week it is swine flu, the next it is the economy and then its Sarah Palin and David Letterman going at it. I barely remember a world before 24 hour news coverage, but that doesn’t stop me from longing for it.
So is it perception that we “move on” so quickly these days? I doubt many people will remember the shooting this week at the Holocaust Museum, much less the Holocaust by next June. I think Mel Gibson, that wacky Bishop who was just un-ex-communicated and the Iranian president Beardonotiewearamahjad need to get three riffles and shoot each other in the head. Is that too harsh? The fact that we live in a world where PETA can compare factory farming to the holocaust or W could claim Saddam was another Hitler is revolting. I’m sure Saddam was an evil tyrant, but (hopefully) Hitler was one of a kind.
The one visit I made to the Holocaust Museum taught me two things. The first is that the deli out front is amazing. Why such good food is available at such a sad place is confounding and the second is that whatever we are told about the Holocaust does not so it justice. At one point during the tour, my wife and I had to leave. We vowed to come back later (which we did) but what compelled us to leave was the disrespect of the visitors. A group of African American school kids were joking, laughing and being vocal and obnoxious. I would hope no one would ever go to the Slavery Museum with that attitude. It was at that moment I realized that time may heal all wounds, but it can also cover up what should never be forgotten.
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Glad you're back. :)
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