the moment.
This is Part One.
—
Every now and then throughout history come these momentous decisions that alter the trajectory of humanity and affect hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions.
How’s that for dramatic?
Everything in me wants to say we are not facing one of those… because it does feel overly dramatic to say we are and my family already thinks I’m dramatic.
So, let’s be clear, this might not be a big moment we’re about to face. But, and this is a very big but, we might also be. I’m sure the people who were living in Germany in the early 30’s didn’t think they weren’t facing that big of a moment in time either.
Speaking of the 30’s and Germany, let’s talk about Hitler, because nothing tones down the dramatic like bringing up Hitler.
Some people say voting doesn’t matter and when they do we need to remember that Hitler was elected. In other words, millions of Jews, and thousands of American soldiers, and countless more were killed because people voted. Voting definitely matters.
Some people say “I’m just not that into politics”, and when they do we need to remember millions of Jews were killed because of …politics. So, I appreciate the sentiment but it’s like me saying I’m not into gravity. In addition, saying “I’m not into politics” is a political statement because it’s an opinion about politics. It’s saying I don’t care about stuff that affects millions of people - which I don’t think anyone wants to really say.
Really nice people, hard working dads and sons, mothers and daughters, and sisters and brothers who went to church and brought fruitcakes to their neighbors at Christmas voted for Hitler. Hitler wasn’t elected by a bunch of demons masquerading around as German citizens. Or even white supremacists. Or even mean, hateful people. He was elected by some people who didn’t think voting mattered (or his opposition was not elected because people didn’t think voting mattered), some people who weren’t that into politics, and some people who just wanted to make Germany great again.
Okay, so what if we pretend for a moment that November 3rd is a momentous decision - that it could affect the trajectory of millions of people?
If it does not end up mattering and we pretended it did, great, not that big of a deal.
If it does matter though and we pretended it did not, well, I mean, history has many examples of that ending up really, really sucking bad.