I read a disturbing article in The Washington Post . To say I am outraged would be a gross understatement. The article is Taking Anne Frank Off Shelves: Indefensible and I was horrified as I read it.
I cannot believe they let this happen. One of the most poignant books I ever read as a young girl. Anne Frank opened my eyes to so many things that I would never have seen otherwise. Horrific things and treatment, that needs to be remembered. I truly despair of the world in which we live when such people can have their way because others are 'too scared or too lazy' to want to make a big deal out of it. Inaction on their part and letting this happen IS the BIG DEAL!!! Could the timing have been anymore 'deliberate' I wonder? This is the week of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau a concentration camp during the Holocaust so, of course, we let them pull this book. I can't say 'they' just because I didn't know about it. I don't know what I can do: but sit here and say or do nothing doesn't fit me. Any violence in the book wasn't even the problem! It was 'one short passage' where Anne writes about her genitalia! It was a natural questioning in a young girl's mind!
There was no reason to do this and it is indefensible! The assignment to read the book had already been completed. If the parent had a problem with their child reading it, they were free to discuss it with the teacher and work out a compromise. A different book for that child could have been chosen and the assigned work done on it instead.
Holocaust Remembrance Week at UN excerpt:
Here's Ban Ki Moon's statement on the week's theme: survival.
The theme of this year’s commemoration at United Nations offices around the world is the legacy of survival.
Countless men, women and children suffered the horrors of the ghettos and Nazi death camps, yet somehow survived.
All of them carry a crucial message for all of us. A message about the triumph of the human spirit. A living testament that tyranny, though it may rise, will surely not prevail.
Survivors also play a vital role in keeping the lessons of the Holocaust alive for future generations.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most notorious of the camps, was liberated 65 years ago today. There and elsewhere, many millions of people were systematically abused and murdered. Most of them were Jews. But others were targeted, too. At Auschwitz, thousands of those killed were inhabitants of the Roma and Sinti “family camp”.
Holocaust survivors will not be with us forever ‑‑ but the legacy of their survival must live on. We must preserve their stories ‑‑ through memorials, through education, most of all through robust efforts to prevent genocide and other grave crimes.
The United Nations is fully committed to this cause. Together, let us pledge to carry forward the mission of Holocaust remembrance ‑‑ and uphold human dignity for all.
George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy), was a philosopher, essayist poet and novelist.
Vol. I Reason in Common Sense excerpt:
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
This famous statement has produced many paraphrases and variants:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.
Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.
“History repeats itself because we don't pay attention and learn our lesson the first time!" You NEED to read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Corrie ten Boom's book 'The Hiding Place.'
Ray Bradbury quote:
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."
"Evil Triumphs When Good People Do Nothing." - unknown -
References
This really is the worst thing I've ever heard a school system doing. Indefensible and should be a wake up call to the voters that their school system is run by censorship advocates and buffoons.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Dave! It's scary to think that this happened so easily. I don't know how something of this magnitude could have made it through without being brought to light beforehand!
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