Today is a good day for reflection. It is bitterly cold outside but in here the wood burning stove radiates comfort. On a day like this the dogs follow at my heals hoping that I will lead them outside for their daily run. But today their outings will be short, yet frequent visits to the fenced enclosure adjacent to the house. And in true dog fashion they embrace each outing with exuberance and joy.
The new year has already brought sadness to our nation in the cruel shooting spree of a deranged young man who left six dead, many more severely wounded, and the blogosphere abuzz with comments of all type. While most Americans are deeply touched by the tragedy in Tucson and most try to reflect on the cause of such an awful event there are a few who will only think of themselves.
Forty year ago I read “In cold Blood” on my first flight from Frankfurt to my new home in the USA. It was unsettling, to say the least, to be confronted with such remorseless violence as I travelled across the Atlantic toward my new life. And in all my years as a citizen of this, my chosen, country I have felt the same unsettling ache at each and every act of senseless violence that has rocked our society to its core. And I don’t belief that the sadness of such senseless tragedies will ever leave me. So today, as I did with all the tragedies of the past, I feel a certain hope that as a Nation we will pause to reflect and to find better ways for a better future.
But alas, some have no interest in finding answers, no interest in making this a better world. Some of us see only their own self-interest; and that is why am I not surprised by the rhetoric of someone like Sarah Palin who takes the discussion about the state of public discourse as a personal attack and uses it to create still more controversy, by accusing the media of creating a “blood libel”against her.
Really Sarah, a “blood libel”???
Do you know what this heinous term means? Do you know the historic context in which the term was used to justify the murder of thousands of Jews? And if you do, do you care that injecting this unspeakable term into the discourse about the tragedy in Arizona will further inflame public discourse? And do you care that public discourse has suffered greatly since you entered the national scene?
And Sarah, are you just ignorant? Or are you truly evil in your self-righteousness? And alas, is there no getting away from you?
But I remind myself that our history as one Nation has had many Sarahs before, and that this too shall pass. And I remind myself that the hope I feel in the face of this tragedy is the hope I felt as I crossed the Atlantic ocean to reach my chosen home, in spite of the terrible book I held in my hands.
Welcome to Sontheim 