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Just Give Donald Trump the Keys to the White House
You need the mental break
To start this essay, I will give two anecdotes of my life.
First, in Shake Hands with the Devil, General Roméo Dallaire tells about being the leader of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Rwanda during the Tutsi genocide. He warned the United Nations that political rhetoric was increasing against the Tutsis. He asked for more forces to help keep peace; he was ignored. The lesson here is that political rhetoric can turn into political action.
My second anecdote is Harry and Gertrude M., who were neighbors in my farming community in southern Alberta. Harry and Gertrude immigrated to Canada from Germany in the 1950s. They were upstanding citizens, socially active and volunteering in the community. They managed their small farm and raised four children. Very nice people. But coming from Germany in those times, there were questions. Harry and Gertrude belonged to the Hitler Youth movement. Harry was conscripted into the German army as the Allies were pushing the Germans out of France. One night after a little alcohol, my parents asked them why they had bought into the Nazi rhetoric. Gertrude could only offer: “We really didn’t know what was happening.” The lesson here is that good people can be co-opted into bad social movements.
