Since Auschwitz was liberated—

The surviving (then) children revisited the site. Some brought their family members. All had the ardent wish that we never forget. Never allow anything like it to happen again.

Will our cultural memory be enough to extinguish the human dynamics of brainwashing by villianizing a segment of the population. It is exactly the dynamics that are in place when any soldier kills an ‘enemy’. A nameless member of the other team–the ‘bad guys’.

On this day of remembrance, let’s remember that we are all capable of villianizing another with the effect of dehumanizing them–thus allowing us to disengage our ethics, our deep seeded morals.

It is the stuff of betrayal in all its forms.

It is the darkness that lives inside us. The ability to justify, to minimize, to bend reality by telling ourselves stories, or by listening to others who do.

“Never again” begins at home. Here in our own family. Here with our own spouse and children.

If we can recognize our own thinking when it slips toward dehumanization. When we tell ourself we know other’s motives—without talking to them. When we build resentments through our self talk about the story we build about another.

Oh what a web we weave when first we learn how to deceive. In this case, self deception.

Be mindful my friends of which stories we build. Judgement before fact checking. Thinking we know the truth, prior to investigation.

Stay mindful my friend.

Vigilant.