“Never Forget, Never Again” is a cautionary message and an imperative obtained from the “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” exhibit at Union Station.
The world should not tolerate the persecution and extermination of any group of people based on prejudice against their religion, race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, mental health, physical health, age, political belief and the desire for freedom.
“Never Forget, Never Again” means that a leader or dictator of a country must be stopped now from killing innocent people and destroying buildings, properties and families. We need to treat any unprovoked deadly aggression on others as though it is a house on fire. We need to put out the fire now — not tomorrow, not next week, not next month and not next year. Put out the fire today, and stop the killing and destruction today. To delay the stoppage of killing innocent people immediately will only increase the daily tally of dead and maimed bodies of men, women, and children.
America and the NATO countries are presently engaged in a game of “Chicken” with Russia, essentially saying, “I dare you to make the first move and use nuclear weapons.” The outcome of simultaneous or reciprocal nuclear warfare would be catastrophic and could cause the obliteration of the world.
It is a sad and scary reality and a reflection of our times that civilized diplomacy has failed in the 21st century and is no longer effective.
Steve Shaw was born and raised in Kansas City. He was inspired to write this op-ed after seeing “Surviving Hitler” at The White Theatre at The J and noticing a parallel between Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Europe and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
