I鈥檓 completely drawn into the book I鈥檓 reading, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Narrated by 鈥楧eath鈥�, its writing style and storyline have captured my imagination. At the same time, it鈥檚 making me think about how humans haven鈥檛 progressed far in terms of persecution.
The protagonist Liesel is a sturdy figure, a young girl in the moral wastelands of wartime Germany. I haven鈥檛 finished the book yet, but we鈥檝e just been joined by Max, a fist-fighting Jew, now hiding in the basement.
Max and Liesel slowly befriend each other. For a birthday present, with nothing to offer, Max paints over the words of Mein Kampf and writes her a story.
Liesel enters the basement one morning to thank Max and notices him asleep behind paint tins and dropsheets. Like any child, innocence coursing through her veins, she climbs into the makeshift bed with him and hugs him as they fall asleep. Society would see a Jew and a girl. They see an opportunity to be at peace.
I asked the mini men to pipe down the other night as I tried to watch the news. They carried on like pork chops.
鈥淕ee, you guys would be great hiding in a hidden apartment in 1942, wouldn鈥檛 you?鈥� I said.
When I left the men, I caught the late session of The Help. More oppression and persecution only 50 years ago.
We only have to look over our shoulders to the atrocities of the Bosnian war and ethnic cleansing.
Moving right along to Julia and our diabolical government decisions on many matters. I asked a friend why hadn鈥檛 we progressed very far 鈥� a world where Palestine still doesn鈥檛 have a seat at the UN table, a world where we still run people out of town.
We ask people to join rallies, we sign petitions and yet our governments ignore us, apathetic to the wishes of the populace.
I don鈥檛 even know what the solution is, but I know that today we are still so far from where we truly should be.
If only our children were presidents.
