President Lincoln and the Sioux Indian uprising in Minnesota in 1862

[L Verge]

Thank you for teaching us a personal lesson, Eva. I fear that too many people never bother to dig deep into the issues of what a war brings about and the underlying feelings of the people. The German people who had the means understood early what was happening and left the country, if at all possible. Not everyone has that choice, however, when evil rears its ugly head. It is often harder to fight the evil within your doors than the evil that invades your land.

During a summer of touring Europe, my friend and I spent several days in a tiny village in Austria (straight out of the picture books). Our hosts at the little hostel were wonderfully friendly. The first night, we had dinner around a common table with two couples who were our parents' ages. They knew we were Americans and told us that they had been held as prisoners by the Americans during WWII. Our first reaction was to duck under the table, and we started to apologize. They laughed at us and told us that they loved Americans - that their captors treated them better than their own German officers had.

When we toured in Germany, we got much the same reaction. I was also surprised that the natives of certain areas would recommend other areas to visit as well as other areas to avoid because the natives were not so friendly. I do the same thing in telling visitors where to go in D.C.

Eva, I paid particular notice to what you posted above about people of Germany protecting their individual regions - feeling more kinship to their locale than to the country in general. Kinda reminded me of America before the Civil War.

I know there are good people everywhere who are lost in the publicity that evil generates. If nothing else, the rise of dictators and police states such as what Germany endured should teach us all a lesson to watch continually what our "leaders" are up to. And, we definitely need to check out what our "wanna-be leaders" have done previously to warrant our respect and our votes. End of Civics 101.