I went to see the movie White Bird, a movie that takes place during the German occupation of France during World War II. It’s a movie everyone should see before they vote.
I think about that last statement, “It’s a movie everyone should see before they vote.” And I ask myself why? Why should everyone go see this movie? And why before the election?
It’s a story of kindness. Yes, it’s a story of how a Catholic priest and teachers tried to save the Jewish students in their school from the German soldiers. It’s a story of how
one young man and his parents saved a young girl’s life. But it’s also a story of cruelty, Nazi World War II cruelty, and I want people to see how that could happen here in my country, the US.
But will anyone change their mind? I ask myself this question. Then I ask myself if I really believe it could happen here? Could it? Has this country become like Germany in the 1930s?
I think about the goodness of my neighbors. We vote for different parties, but we are always here for one another. I think about my friends and clients, even family members and the love that is given so freely. No, we are not Germany in the 1930s. No.
Then I think about the people lining the street as I came into town to go to the movie. They were quietly protesting abortion. But they aren’t Nazis. They’re protesting a woman’s right of autonomy over her body. They believe they are saving a baby’s life.
They’ve probably never held a college roommate after she was raped, her main concern it could turn into a pregnancy. Or they never saw a student in their classroom cry because his mother died in childbirth because abortion was illegal in Ohio before Roe.
They were following their religious beliefs. But why are they imposing it on others? Why are they protesting abortion instead of protesting for sensible gun restrictions to save the children in schools?
But they are not Nazis; they are just following their beliefs.
In the movie theater I cry while watching White Bird. Tears come to my heart and fall from my eyes as I watch the Nazis take Jewish children out of school. Tears come and my body becomes tense as I watch the girl run from the soldiers. Tears come and run down my cheeks as I watch the horrific injustice and cruelty of it all.
Why were the Germans in France? Why were the Jewish people so hated? Why did the German soldiers believe this was right?
Were they just following their beliefs? What belief is so cruel?
I leave the movie, thank the movie people for showing this movie. I am too stunned, too full of emotion too full of whys to make a decision about where to go. I can’t go home yet. I need to work through these emotions. I just need to understand but I don’t know what it is I need to understand.
I get into my car. Sit for a few minutes. Then I step on the brake. Press the start button. Start to drive. It is only a block I’ve driven when I see two flags in the front of a house. One flag is the red, white, and blue of the US flag. The other is the Nazi flag. Stuck in the ground are signs for one of the candidates for President of the US. Vote.
I catch my breath. Breathe. Breathe. I think about pulling over. But I feel the need to keep driving. Soon I’m headed out of town, out to the quiet of the countryside, out to the roads of curves and hills. Out to where the roads go on forever as they dip and curve into the clouds. Out to where the sun shines a little brighter and the air feels a little fresher.