Garrette and I are safely home from our Vienna Prague Seminar and want to express our gratitude to Classrooms Without Borders and the amazing group of educators with whom we shared the experience. We also want to thank those of you who took the time to read our posts on Facebook and view the photos.
We are often asked why we choose to participate in the CWB seminars to study such dark times. We are compelled to learn about the history of the places we travel, especially the recent history that changed the world. We feel deep compassion and grief for the suffering of the millions who died and the untold impact on the millions more who somehow survived. We wonder about the generations who were never born and the gifts they may have shared with the world. Perhaps, most of all, we want to understand how one individual was able to manipulate so many others to commit the vilest of atrocities against other human beings. As Winston Churchill said, those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it.
We wish we could say that the lessons of the Holocaust would prevent further genocides. But time has shown that not to be the case. Hopefully though we can all be more aware of the warning signs of leaders who try to erode the freedoms of any population a bit at a time. Hopefully we will resist before it’s too late.
Thank you to Classrooms Without Borders for educating the teachers who educate our youth. You are reaching generations who will carry the torch.