The Stoics all said in one form or another that history repeats itself. I want to ask, why? Humans are human beings, and of course, we all make mistakes. That much is true. What I do not get, or I can't wrap my head around, is all this war horror in the most advanced civilization in human existence that continues wreaking havoc that, IMHO, needs to stop!
The answer is that we forget history. Not just American History or Western History but World History.
We forget that we've evolved from the caveman.
We forget all the wars that brought death, destruction, heartbreak, and lost communities and nations (from ancient Rome to the present-day Middle East).
We forget we are better than that.
We, as in the other eight billion people, are walking this Earth on a daily basis. Thankfully, I continue to believe that almost all of those eight billion people are good and kind and want what is best for themselves and their families. The trifecta: Food/Shelter/Clean Water is the crux of our existence.
Last May, I was fortunate to honor the millions who died on the sacred grounds of Auschwitz and Treblinka in Poland. It was my third time to do so in the last 40+ years. Treblinka now has a dedicated museum on the hollowed property, which was not there in 1995. At that time, it was set deep into the forest (still is), and people came from all over the world to pray/meditate or pay homage to the 900,000 people, a vast majority of Jews, who died there between 1941 and 1943. I was fascinated by all the young people who found their way to a blip of land that was not indicated on a map. Since my paternal family lives within 10 km of Treblinka, they knew exactly where it was located and drove me and any other family members there on our previous visits.
Since this death camp was established on a woody hill deep into the forest, it had the enormous "capacity of killing," making Treblinka the biggest extermination camp of Operation Reinhard. UGH! The symbols today consist of railroad tracks - where the crowded deportation trains came from all over Western Europe, large and small stones in various areas symbolizing the countries the victims came from, and a large monument that was erected on the site of the gas chambers.
Yep, we cannot (should not) forget this happened.
Why is there still so much destruction?
Can we learn as People of the Earth to STOP the madness? Haven't there been so many paid dues in the last several thousand years?
We are better than that.
Terri
Photo: 1) Jerzy with one of the largest stones - Polska-Poland; 2) symbolic grave markers; 3) inside the museum with a guide who was very informative (watched a short documentary before we entered the rest of the camp); 4) Renata, me, Yvonne near the gas chambers of the camp; 5) concrete symbolic train tracks; 6) Museum of Treblinka, Poland.
