It is said that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. We saw a good example of this yesterday in the words of Donald Trump when he referred to closing all American doors to Muslims. Think back to the 1930’s when Hitler came to power in Germany. His hatemongering speeches set the stage for one of the greatest atrocities in human history and those speeches sound a lot like the things we are hearing now. Hitler dehumanized Jews and implied that any actions against them were correct and defensible. Donald Trump and some of his buddies are saying the same thing right now about Muslims. If Germany had refused the fear and hatred that was being seeded into their world, we could have avoided the murder of 6 million people, the huge casualties that World War gave us, and the total destruction of much of Europe. Will we learn from this chapter of world history and refuse to be seduced by fear and self righteousness? Let us all learn to listen to the better angels of our nature and welcome in the true refugees from the wars in the Middle East. Let us act as Americans were meant to act.
Maria Arrington
Bigfork