Parallels

Last evening I was looking for something to watch while I worked on my grandson's afghan.  I clicked on a video of a Holocaust survivor's story.  I have no idea why I chose that one as I usually look for videos or movies that are somewhat lighter in subject, but I became interested and watched several others as well.

What caught my interest weren't the horrors these people suffered, but were the things that happened leading up to the deportations to concentration camps.

Most had older relatives who couldn't believe that anything bad would happen to them.  Most had Gentile friends who turned against them and some of those friends were the cause of arrests.  Whether the reasons for turning against their Jewish friends were previously hidden prejudices or fear of the German soldiers, the outcome was usually the same.  After a while nobody trusted anybody.

Another factor was food.  As time went on, shops closed one by one and obtaining enough food to feed a family became difficult.  When food rationing began, the ability to find food became close to impossible.  And after the Jews  were forced to move into ghettos, food became nearly non-existent.  Many starved to death long before the deportations began.

Another reoccurring theme was the lies.  Some Jews were told that if they presented themselves at a certain time at a certain location, they would be given extra rations.  When they appeared they were either loaded into boxcars or were killed outright.

Other times they were told that if they volunteered to work for the German military they would earn enough to buy their food.  Those that volunteered were usually worked to death without pay or food.

In the end, the Jews were lied to about everything.  It was all about promising them a better life in order to get them where the government wanted them without any fuss or bother or resistance.

Food became the most important thing in the lives of many Jews.  The food they had managed to put away was confiscated.  There were no places to buy food and that didn't matter because their money and valuables had also been taken from them.  Starvation became a way of life.

See any parallels?  I noticed that so many didn't believe anything bad would happen.  That seems to be the prevailing attitude today.  Even though we are watching our freedoms being eroded little by little, many don't seem to care.  As long as they have their big screen TVs and a couple of cars in the garage and can afford to go out on Saturday night, they pay little attention to what is happening around them.

Many believe there will always be grocery stores full of food.  They shop once a week and believe they will do so forever.  The thought of stocking up on food and supplies seems like a waste of time and effort to them.  And they consider those of us who are into food storage to be tin foil hat wearing crazies.

Most everyone is aware of the fact that politicians lie.  They tell us what they think we want to hear in order to promote whatever their agenda is.  But mostly they lie to gain or keep power.  They lie to keep us complacent.  They want us smart enough to do the work that needs to be done but dumb enough so we don't question their motives.  And all the while they are chipping away at your freedoms and mine. 

I don't know how all of this is going to play out, but I can guarantee it won't be to the advantage of the people. 

I am beginning to understand why so many are trying to rewrite history, for if we don't remember what happened in the past, we are doomed to see similar horrors in the future.

It is way past time to wake up.