It is a great
tragedy that the German
government should race to destroy this historic
landmark. The decision to cut these trees down is a
knee-jerk reaction to a perceived threat of
anti-semitism, and is obviously aimed to politically woo a potentially vocal
voting bloc of Jews in
Germany.
Before I go any further, I would like to state that I am not
anti-semitic, nor am I
racist. I think that
Nazi Germany is one of the greatest
evils to ever rise up and threaten the freedom and well-being of humanity.
That is precisely why it is important to
preserve all the reminders we can of its
power. We should keep around especially
prominent landmarks like this as a visible memo to ourselves to stay
vigilant lest something like the
Third Reich threaten to
swallow the world again.
If we destroy the legacies of our past
conquerors, we put them out of our minds. We find ourselves
taken unawares when similar conquerors rise to
replace them. If we stand up to that which we fear. Look it in the eye, and accept it into our daily lives, we will gain the
strength and the will to refuse
tyranny the opportunity to gain a foothold ever again.