(A repost, but it was appropriate.)

 

Some say those who abuse their power should be held accountable.

Others say, wisdom lies in moving towards the light.

Each position can reasonably be argued. But there's a point which neither one addresses.

In Germany, in 1945, when the various Allied forces moved in to liberate the camps, they documented the atrocities they found; as the images of things once unspeakable, and once contained, found their way into the world, the German people, the ordinary citizens living in and around the countryside, argued one of those positions, or the other.

At that time, one German man whose name I do not know—but a wise man and a brave one, I believe—with all around him, angry and ashamed, this man spoke to his countrymen and neighbors.

He said the only thing that really mattered. And the one thing they did not want to hear.

It didn’t have to come to this.

We knew, we all knew.

We knew whenever we saw the smoke.

We knew what the stench that hung in the air was.

If we had tried as hard to stop it as the one who started it...

This didn't have to happen.

It did not have to come to this.

 




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