The Power Within

Germany is a wonderful and thought provoking country. The events in the last century give good reason to pause. Under the Nazi regime, brutal measures were taken to crush the individual at concentration camps. The communists that followed tried to suppress the individual. The Communists viewed people as tools in their Utopian society. We went to the DDR museum and the propaganda was both interesting and appalling. I was most struck by how much an invested and planned economy did not plan for individuality. People have varied needs and wants which the economy could not meet. People were forced to be the same, to think the same, to drive the same car, to live in identical apartments. Regardless of the effort to squash out individuality neither the Nazis nor the Communists succeeded. The power of the individual, the power within is too great. However, that power comes with great responsibility. The Rick Steves Wannabe tour guide in Munich while annoying did do a great job of of explaining why the Nazi movement was able to take flight and captivate the country. We look back on the Nazis and think "what monsters" but they, like us today, were individuals who had the power to join or avoid the movement. Dodger's Ally in Munich is a testament to that. It is an ally that people would take to avoid walking past a Nazi statue commemorating the Beer Hall Uprising and being forced to salute it. Each person has the power to stand for something, to uphold peace as well as strife, justice or oppression, persecution or freedom, love as well as hate. A collection of individuals can create a movement. It can be for something noble like the Civil Rights Movement or the fall of the Berlin Wall or sinister like the Nazis. Each one of us has tremendous potential. power within is wonderful, dynamic, electric and yet terrifying. We live in the free world and the rights that we enjoy allow us to capitalize and realize that potential. Apathy, complacency and indifference are not options. It is decision time. How will you use the power within?