solarpunkcast:revolutionaryeye:hookahbird:makeup-wonder-woman:rootbeergoddess:wildlythoughtfulsquid:
solarpunkcast:revolutionaryeye:hookahbird:makeup-wonder-woman:rootbeergoddess:wildlythoughtfulsquid:SERIOUSLYI am going to print this out and plaster it everywhere I gomy heart just brokeNot gonna lie; I’m on the verge of tears right now.Because this is what I see every night when I come into work. I work at a Jewish-run elder care non-profit. Even in the memory care unit, we’re seeing a rise in the residents’ anxiety levels, to the point where they’ve had to stop turning on the TV news stations (and these residents still love the news). Multiple residents are direct survivors of the Shoah; some barely escaped, and almost all of them lost family members in death camps. One resident was one of the children saved by the Kindertransport. Many other residents tell me stories of when they were kids, how their neighborhoods were destroyed and relocated and of the siblings and parents they no longer have. One newer resident was finally starting to settle in when Charlottesville happened. Even though we immediately changed the channel, she was shaken. She was inconsolable for hours. When I left for the night, she was still crying and refused to leave her room. Even now, weeks after the direct event, she still is wary to come to programs, fearing that if she is away from her room too long that her possessions and place will be stolen from her like they were in 1938. Even with dementia, even with Alzheimers, these residents remember what happened. They cannot forget their lost loved ones. They cannot forget the things stolen from them. They cannot forget, period.Because this fight against Neo-Nazis isn’t just a theoretical thing. These groups know that people are forgetting about Shoah; they take great strength knowing that people from that generation are dying. When they regard WWII as a “dark cloud” hanging over the heads of this generation, it is not with a solemn regard, with they knowledge that we must not forget lest we repeat our mistakes. These White supremacists, these White Neo-Nazis, see Shoah remembrance as something they will gladly eradicate. When people gladly throw out the Nazi salute, chant the 14 words, or march under the banner of “hail victory,” they are two things and two things only – Nazi apologists and Nazi supporters.Shoah survivors are not gone. They are still here. We need to stop ignoring that this normalization of Nazis marching in the street harms real people. It’s not just ideas. It’s not just “free speech”.We cannot forget. We cannot forget. We cannot forget.Remembering is not enough.Sorrow is not enough.They are in our midst againWe need to know how to stop them:- https://socialistworker.org/2017/07/03/what-strategies-will-stop-the-far-rightAntifa doesn’t see neonazis as “rednecks” or “ignorant workers”, but otherwise this article is spot on and a good readI see this image, and immediately feel sorrow…a heartache that cannot be easily wiped away. I am not a jew, but I feel the pain. You ask “How can you, a white goyim, understand the loss we suffered?”, “How can you, a white man, begin to understand the suffering of the black man?”The truth is…I cannot, not fully. I can only observe from the outside, the evils of mankind, and feel the sorrows of the past, while trying to live as peacefully as I can with my fellow human beings. I’ve lost, I’ve loved, I’ve lived, and lost again. I can only feel, with you, the pains that were before, and god willing, will never be again.“How do I understand?” you ask?I remember a time, which for me is a long time ago, when my father (who was a pastor of a small church out in the middle of nowhere Arkansas), was taking us to eat after a sunday service in a neighboring town. On our way, we see two large groups of people squared off in a field. Some, carrying the flags, shields, clubs, and sticks of the KKK. And the other group, concerned townsfolk whom didn’t want them there carrying shotguns, pistols, and baseball bats. My father starts to drive on past, when I see a look I’ve never seen on his face before. It wasn’t hatred, or fear, nor loathing…..it was sorrow. A deep sorrow I had never seen on my fathers face before in my childhood, and that scared me the most in my youth. He pulls off the side of the road, to the pleads of my mother to just drive on…don’t get involved. He looks in the rearview mirror and sighs, and gives my mother a kiss on the forehead and tells her “everything’s going to be alright”. He turns the car around and drives to the crowd, parking on the periphery of the groups, and stepping out of the car, reaches back in and grabs his bible. He smiles, and tells my brother and mother and I to stay in the car, lock the doors, and whatever else happens….to pray. Pray for what he was about to attempt, pray for peace, pray for love, and pray for strength in the middle of the lions den. My mother was crying, my younger brother was crying, and I was afraid. Would my father die today? I had never prayed harder in my life before that day.He holds up his hands, bible held high….and walks in between the two groups. I remember the hushed eerie silence that fell when the two groups noticed him there. I remember the whispers, and the chuckles from both sides. I remember the words my father said on that day between two groups of sworn enemies determined to solve their problems with violence.His prayer was simple “Dear heavenly father, I pray today for your love to fill the hearts of those assembled here today, I pray for the love of Christ to bless each and every heart that hears this today. I pray for your spirit of peace to descend today and heal the hearts of those who seek violence as a solution to their problems, and that your love will save them and bring them closer to you lord. I pray that those assembled will search their hearts and souls and find the love that Christ shown upon that cross, and I most humbly pray that everyone will go home today in peace and love.” I still remember that after all these years, a simple prayer, in earnest, within the midst of hatred and violence.Within moments, the tension in the air eased….people started to disperse. My father praying individually with both townsfolk and KKK members, all the while showing the love of Christ with every prayer, every handshake, every invite to sunday evening service.The KKK load back up into their truck, and depart…..we never saw them in any form again in that area after that. Townsfolk milled about talking about what had happened, some of them to visit our church that evening for service.My father? He gets back into the vehicle and hugs my mother. He reaches back and gives my brother’s and my hand a squeeze from the front seat, and takes a moment to breathe. I asked him why he did that, knowing it was dangerous, and he could have been gravely hurt or killed. He just looks at me through the rearview mirror with a knowing smile, and simply said “It was the right thing to do. Evil will flourish when good men do nothing…..remember that….and besides, god was with me, and I couldn’t sit by and watch bad things happen when I had the power to do something. You ask, “how can you possibly understand?” Because I watched a grown man, scared out of his mind, armed with only a book, walk in between the jaws of violence and death, and had the courage to say the words that no one else was willing to say that day. My dad, my mentor, my hero.I understand…and I feel. And seeing that history repeat itself again in this day and age should drive every person of good conscious to action in the face of unmitigated evil….You want to fight that level of evil? You fight it with a greater portion of love. With the courage to stand up to that evil with your arms held wide, a smile on your face, a song on your lips, and a love in your heart that evil cannot touch…not with a thousand shields, not with a thousand chants, not with a thousand clubs…..you love them in spite of themselves, you pray to whatever god you hold dear, you join with your fellow peacemakers arm in arm, regardless of race, religion, or creed, and you simply…..love……even when it feels extremely difficult to do so. That’s how you beat the evils that rest in men’s hearts.You want to protest? Protest with love. You want to counter-protest? counter-protest with love. Screaming and shouting solve….nothing. But love….in the face of evil….defeats all. I’ve never met any of you, but I love you all anyway. We may not agree on things, but I love you anyway regardless of our differences. you may not believe the same things that I believe…..that’s ok…..I will love you despite us not seeing eye to eye. For in the end, when you look beyond the labels, and the dogmas, and all the trappings we surround ourselves with to define who we are and what we are about….we’re all just human beings, living on a tiny world in an insanely huge cosmos, and we love, laugh, and feel. So…as I was raised, I will simply say this….”may god bless and keep you, may love always find it’s way into your hearts, and may you have the courage to face the evils of this world with the ultimate love that I know rests inside you when you listen deep enough to your own soul, and invoke that love in the world around you.”I understand……and I love you. -- source link