I am on a journey.  The year is 1986.  I am half way through the privilege of living in and touring Europe for two years, ages 16 to 18.  I had already spent a fair amount of time in Bavaria, a region in modern unified Germany, dating to 555 A.D. 

This journey during the summer of my 17^th year I invested a large portion of a day at Dachau Concentration Camp. My mother and I travelled to this hell hole, where during World War Two an estimated 188,000 Jews were contained, subjected to ungodly bodily experiments and inhumane labor practices.  A compound where close to 32,000 humans were slaughtered via gas chambers then disposed of in incinerator’s.

I vividly remember being sick to my stomach as I walked into the chambers where human life was gassed.  Humans were led into the chambers in large groups, naked, told they were getting much needed showers.  Holding back vomit, I viewed the pictures of pyramids of human flesh, where they had gasped their final breaths, climbing on one another, attempting to get higher, gasping for air.

The following summer, touring my best friend from the States around Europe, I invested another day at Dachau. I couldn’t lead him through Europe without him seeing this hell hole, which had been created and thrived in the land of Beethoven and Bach, during our Grandparents generation. Just like my personal struggles the previous summer, I remember his working to contain vomit during his visit to Dachau.

By God’s Grace, our grandparents’ generation liberated the European continent from this evil a mere 42 years prior to our visit.

Last week, April 12^th, 2018 was Holocaust Remembrance Day, 73 years since liberation and 31 years since my last visit to Dachau.  A report was released last week showing that “66 % of American millennials and 41 % of American adults could not explain the significance of Auschwitz (another concentration camp) and that 41 % of millennials believe that fewer than 2 million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/66-percent-of-us-millennials-dont-know-what-auschwitz-was.

We are now three generations removed from the liberation of Europe, from this insanity, and most of today’s American’s don’t know the history or the sacrifice of our immediate ancestors.  This is problematic and requires action.  What can we do?

We must not simply grieve about the loss of this historical knowledge, and the inevitable risk it creates for each of us.

It is not enough to simply get angry about the lack of education, bureaucracies which might be exacerbating this trend and textbooks which are not accurate. 

Like our responsibility for our individual immediate and extended families’ financial well-being, we are also responsible for our individual immediate and extended families’ educational well-being, as both responsibilities impact our individual future generations.

As a parent, grandparent or perhaps even a great-grandparent; as an aunt or an uncle, here are three easy things you can do.  First, educate yourself.  We live in the greatest generation in history as it relates to the capability to invest time in one’s own education.  Second, rather than planning a family vacation to Disney World or to go on a cruise, plan a trip to Washington, DC.  Among the many sites which every American should visit, be sure to visit the interactive Holocaust Museum.  Be sure to invest several hours in the exhibit “Propaganda” on the lower level.  In that exhibit, your heirs will learn the concept of “fake news” is not new.  It was used in the 20^th Century very effectively, to the demise of over 6 million human lives.  Third, find ways to incorporate historical education into your extended families’ routine.  In my humble opinion, the dividends your individual family will receive from such investments will exceed the dividends received from that trip to Disney World.

Here’s wishing you a productive week.

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As I prepare for Hump Day, which also happens to be Master’s Week, I am beginning the day sipping coffee, sitting in the dark on my great-grandfather’s front porch, listening to the rain fall, the wind blow, the thunder roll and watching the lightning. As dark turns to day, and the rain tapers off, I also am enjoying the sounds of birds, insects and the steaks (cows) in the field. I am also keeping track of the traffic count, which each passing year increases on this beautiful country road our family has been blessed to know for well over a century.

I am thinking about life 100 years ago and am wondering what my 12-year-old grandfather and 44-year-old great grandfather would be thinking, as they potentially sat on this same porch, drinking coffee as they prepared to go to work. As there was a 32-year span between the two men, I am confident that in addition to the labor that was ahead for that specific day, they were thinking of different things. Yes, I called my 12-year old grandfather a man, as the expectations of 12-year old farm boys 100 years ago was vastly different than the expectations today’s society places on 12-year old individuals.

My great grandfather’s mind might have been on the devastation of World War I, which was six months away from ending, a fact no one knew at that time. He may have only been thinking about this year’s agricultural business, so focused on the immediate that he couldn’t think beyond what was right in front of him. Having been blessed to know my grandfather during the last decade of his life, I can safely assume my great-grandfather was thinking further ahead than one year.

No doubt, much like today’s agricultural business owner he was concerned about the labor force, the weather and cost structures he couldn’t control. Since he died in 1926, I am confident he couldn’t have imagined industrialized agriculture as we have witnessed in the last half a century. I am confident he couldn’t have imagined the future of agriculture being in hydroponics or aeroponics, where entire cities could see their greens and vegetable food supply being produced vertically inside containers or high-rise buildings, with high-tech systems monitoring lighting and water with unimaginable specificity, as we are witnessing in the 21st century.

I am confident he couldn’t have imagined the traffic count in front of his driveway being what it is this morning. I am confident he couldn’t have imagined the only region he had ever known being transformed by industries called cyber-security or golf. The idea of his neighbors’ homes being rented for thousands of dollars a week during a golf tournament would have been ludicrous – especially when he had only a few years prior constructed his home for $ 300 and a motorcycle!

As for my 12-year-old grandfather – he very likely was only thinking about how quickly he could accomplish his morning chores before school! While the events of his life would later force him to think long term, and become adept at it, at that point in his life, he was very likely focused on just getting through the day.

For me, thinking about history, both at a high level, as well as the individual family level, I am grateful for our heritage. As you look at your personal family heritage, I hope you are grateful as well and that you can glean wisdom from both family failure and success.  Then, regardless of where you are today as an individual, will choose to put your hand back on the plow with vigor, in such a way those coming behind you will look at your life’s work and be grateful for your effort.

I hope you can focus on more than simply getting through the day, sometimes a great challenge, I know.

However, you choose to begin your Hump Day – I sincerely hope you have a productive day!

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