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We Once Went to War. . .



Along with millions of others, my maternal grandfather and various great uncles -- Methodists, Episcopalians, a Baptist, and one Catholic -- once went to war almost eight decades ago, in part, to stop the sort of thing that happened yesterday.  On Saturday during religious services at The Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an individual with a history of antisemitic behavior murdered 11 people: 

Joyce Fienberg, 75, Rose Mallinger, 97, Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, Cecil Rosenthal, 59, David Rosenthal, 54, Daniel Stein, 71, Melvin Wax, 88, and Irving Younger, 69, Richard Gottfried, 65, and Bernice Simon, 84, and Sylvan Simon, 86.  

During the first half of the 1990s, I used to catch the bus to and from college daily just up the street from this particular temple in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood where you might think this kind of thing would never happen.  Have we learned nothing?   

-- Stokes

Comments

Robert (Bob) Cordery said…
It was a truly horrific attack against people who were in a place where they should have felt safe.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the dead.
5:24 PM
The Jolly Broom Man said…
I'm sorry Stokes, it really was a truly awful crime. It seems we are doomed to repeat the same senseless behavior generation after generation.
5:32 PM
MSFoy said…
Stokes - once again I am shocked and appalled. Dreadful event - the perpetrator would appear to be a nutjob, and no-one can really legislate against nutjobs, but I am disturbed to see that President Trump feels this incident would have been better if there had been armed guards at the synagogue. I realise that he has influential friends in the weapons industry, but exactly which cowboy film is he living in? Surely he must be part of the problem. The wild rhetoric and the knee-jerk behaviour are encouraging the crazy element in your nation.

Making America grate?

God help us all - Tony



















1:08 AM
Simon said…
No sadly has not learned anything. This keeps happening and until you have proper firearms control it will go on and on.
When will the USA wake up to reality?
2:01 AM
The Good Soldier Svjek said…
My father was wounded in the last war against fascism and I view the sly growth of it again under it's many guises with dismay , the generation that fought that war are sadly almost gone and the new generation I fear has learnt nothing . Those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it as somebody once said .
3:12 AM
Independentwargamesgroup said…
I try to avoid posting my political views on wargaming sites, usually because Im out of step with most wargamers. Stokes you cannot legislate for insanity and ignorance. Sadly in the USA it is far to easy to obtain a gun which makes a usually insignificant nobody into a one day murderous celebrity. Because both sides are entrenched you will never solve the issue of firearms,but dont think its any better in Europe except most of the attacks on Jews are from the extreme left and fanatical Muslims. Sadly in the UK a lot of synagogues have hired security to allow them peace of mind, so not too far away from what the POTUS is advocating is it?
6:06 AM
Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said…
"Imagine all the people living life in peace"
6:18 AM
CelticCurmudgeon said…
This is truly a terrible happening. It was stunning to discover that these poor people could be the victim of someone's hate to this degree. Two very close friends of the family served on Ike's staff in WWII and were with him when he visited the concentration camps. They would not, could not discuss what they saw. How can it be that someone could be willing to victimize people of the Jewish faith like this?
11:51 AM
Wellington Man said…
These was truly dreadful times, Stokes. We should call these things what they are, perhaps - domestic terrorism. The series of attacks by white supremacists on predominantly black churches are part of the same phenomenon. You can certainly legislate against that.
12:01 PM
Anonymous said…
Automatic weapons should not be allowed to be used by civilians, only soldiers and paramilitary police eg Swat etc. Until this is done, these horrible events will keep happening.
5:00 PM
Pechlivan said…
A terrible event. The world is going mad.
1:25 PM
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