Evil
“To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blindsided by it.” – Joel Rosenberg
Many years ago I had the opportunity to go to Germany and one of the things I wanted to do was visit one of the concentration camps from WW2. I was in Munich, and found out that the first concentration camp was in a suburb of Munich…literally just a few miles away.
Dachau was the first of many concentration camps to house Jews in WW2. When I walked on the grounds of the camp, it was surreal to say the least. When I got off the tour bus, nobody spoke a word. It was as it we knew that this was a place where we needed to show respect for the thousands of Jews who died there.
When I questioned the young tour bus driver about that atrocity, he quickly pointed out, “That was not my generation.” Of course I did not blame him or Germany in general, but I was curious as to how they felt about what happened there. He did not want to talk about it, so we didn’t.
Evil has no particular name or face. It just shows up and you know it is evil. It steals, kills, and destroys all that is in its way. The question then becomes: how do we stop it?
Obviously ignoring it does not work. Pearl Harbor is a perfect example. If the US had not chosen an isolationist position in world politics, I doubt Pearl Harbor would ever have happened.
The only way that makes evil back down is when it is confronted. You can take that to the bank and cash it. When you see evil, don’t ignore it. Face it. Confront it. Challenge it. Do whatever you have to do because if you don’t, you and everyone you know will lose.
It takes great courage to confront evil. It has a way of paralyzing people through fear. If you fear what will happen if you act, you are most likely not going to do anything. That is what the enemy is counting on. That is why Hitler was able to literally transform a nation into people who believed a lie. They were willing to die for him because they became convinced that HE was the truth. Tragically, it was all a lie. We all have to stand up for truth and what is right. If we don’t, evil wins.
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
― Albert Einstein
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – Winston Churchill
Shalom!
Dan Skognes