The recent events in Charlottesville got me thinking on our family history and the moments when we know our legacy includes hate.
During a recent trip home to Halifax, Nova Scotia I was in a conversation with someone not happy about the erasing of history. He wasn’t convinced it was a good idea to remove the confederate flag or the statues. That the same thing was happening in Nova Scotia too. I do not see the removal of statues and flags as an erasing of history. Often, as in the removal of the Berlin wall or the very public toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue, it is a symbol of freedom. This conversation happened before Charlottesville and I’m not sure if his position has changed.
I remember being moved by the documentary “Inheritance” about the daughter of a Nazi war criminal that went on a pilgrimage to try and accept the truth about her father. Monika Hertwig’s father was Nazi commander, Amon Goeth. If that name is familiar to you, you may remember Ralph Fiennes portrayed him in “Schindler’s List”. The film takes Monika Hertwig on a journey of discovery and a search for information that brings her to a historic and clearly painful moment when she meets one of the women her father enslaved. The tag line of the film was A Legacy of Evil and the Journey to Change It.
In general I know it is difficult to truly understand what motivates hates. I want to say it was a different time. I differently social awareness. But then that wouldn’t understand away the events of last weekend. Or honor the people who died fighting for the ideals of freedom in every war since the beginning of time. Or remember the people that stood for humanity during the many civil rights battles here in our own country.
So how can we honor our past and accept the possible crimes of our ancestors?
Everyday is an opportunity to connect, learn, educate ourselves and reflect. We don’t need to honor monuments, we need to honor people and humanity.