Thursday, September 7, 2017

Sep 7

Reminds me of a friend's daughter.

Sep 7

Over the past several months I have become interested in the two great wars of the Twentieth Century. I think that it can be postulated that they were really the same war, with a twenty-year hiatus in the middle. The causes of the wars were the same as every other war--lust for power, greed, domination, intimidation. No doubt racism played a major part, too.
I've been reading a book entitled Winter of the World, by Ken Follet. It is the second of three books in his Century Trilogy, and it centers on the events leading up to and the horrors of World War Two.  What struck me most profoundly was how people in Germany that dissented from the Nazis were systematically eliminated. Some were threatened, some had their careers ruined, some were charged with specious acts, all in the name of maintaining a veneer of order and respectability. The goal was no doubt to silence those who disagreed. Many lives were ruined or taken by these dastardly acts of cowardice. Of course, in the end, The Nazis were defeated and disgraced, but in some quarters, their tactics still live.

We must be mindful of tyrants among us and root them out. We must say in no uncertain terms that their conduct is unacceptable.

Saturday, September 2, 2017