there was something granular today
that hadnt crossed his mind since first he heard Elie Wiesels name(but then
death is a stickpin to the senses) or first recognising as a boy the horrific
subject of the Holocaust which Elie committed his life
he was provoked then to read Night
and it
seemed to him an encyclopaedic reminder of Mankind Gone Strange
which curiously did not surprise
him or make him fearful
hed been visited by minor
debasements
and if a boy could incur them
why wouldnt they occur
on an Industrial level
Elies coming hide your heart then(Three
Dog Night chirped in his ear*)
and now his Passing
where -- in between – had they
been that Elie Wiesel passed out of his consciousness but not the unorthodox
gift of Horror and the Humanity abiding in its Face he wrote of
he was thrown had always been
thrown by groups who denied the Holocaust
he knew from his Polish
grandmother who arrived in America at the beginning of the century vouched for
by an elder cousin and who lived many years on a farm in Indiana before moving to
Chicago that many family members and friends she knew disappeared during the
war
they were never heard of again
his grandmothers twelve children
sent her to Poland fifty years after she left and returning saddened she
told them that the village she grew up in didnt exist any longer not the church
where family records were stored not the city hall or the elaborate square with
the fountain in it where she fed ducks and walked holding her parents hands
it was an affirmation of the
Holocaust
concurrent listening to Rock n Roll music he started a record
collection
not wanting to spend more than
necessary he determined his paper route and grass-cutting money would go
furthur if he bought his vinyl in Skokie two hours north of where he lived by
bicycle
he and his best friend rode on
Saturdays every other week to purchase three albums for ten dollars and since it
was a long way to Skokie and a long way back they ate lunch there and usually
hung around in the various shops not far off Dempster Road
they talked with the elderly proprietors
who always stood to greet them when they entered
amicable boys people-persons they
would introduced themselves and shake their hands
they became familiar curious fixtures
to the business community by the odd chance they traveled as far as they did
it was during that first summertime
fans wheeling overhead no airconditioning front and back doors held open by knickknacks
that they recognised wearing shortsleeves many shopowners were tattooed
concentration
camp numbers ran down their left arms
he may have only been aware or
they stood out to him because he was lefthanded
they were few lefties in the
Midwest
he was one of sixtysix cousins
and the only lefty
likely his obsession of lefthanded
people left arms provoked him to inform his friend that their new
acquaintances were heinously tattooed
riding home he asked him about
their tattoos
Whaat tattoos
Are
you blind
I didnt see
when they returned on the alternating
Saturday he couldnt believe his eyes
My God Skokies filled with camp survivors I can hardly imagine
I dont want to imagine he said
as they rode home he shared bits
and pieces of what he read from Night
Thats horrible
No Its inhumane
And it was going on for a long time before the United States even got into the
war Yea
and parse that out with our righteous braying and chest-thumping Americas
the Best
Were. . . whats the wordAh Exceptional
If were so damn exceptional
Where were we Where were we
You cant expect wed be everywhere
at once
No
Then why wear the mantle
Why exceptional when it doesnt
exist When we see wrongdoing but assess it according to and this
is bad How we stand to benefit from it
Saving Jews and Poles and
homosexuals and gypsies and all the others wasnt cost effective
The Holocaust was inconvenient
Can you imagine until we the
Allies got there that hundreds of thousands and thousands and thousands of
people were left to their own devises and means
Perhaps its something to be keenly remembered
when time comes and were left to our own means
What are you talking about
Im talking about staying fit my
friend staying in shape When the cookie
crumbles if you cant run away or fight youll
die
JesusChrist Youre grim
No Not me
Grim are those tattoos
Youve heard Elies quote havent you
No I havent But Ill bet you have
I have
You might remember it its on my
notebooks among . . .
. . . Among lotsa other quotes You have a thing with quotes Words Scribbling
all the time . . .
.
. . Theyre my graffitied walls . . .
. . . Like Moses coming down from the mountain top . . .
. . . Sure I suppose Commandments . . .
. . . Dont suppose They are
Elies quote is
I havent forgotten I wanted to be sure you said what you wanted to say before I said
Thank you Say
Memory has become a sacred duty
of all people of goodwill.**
Sacred Mighty tall order
Today memory is a mighty big order Seems the Powers That Be would prefer we
hadnt memory prefer that our media onslaught its day-to-day will erode sand
away those things that history that ought to be the basis of what and who we
are
So we dont lose our way
Bread crumbs to escape the black
forest A compass maintaining our True
North
You have doubts about us dont you
I dont know that doubts is
correct Rather Im a born skeptic and I dont
take anyones word at face value If you
say something to me you better have five independent sources to corroborate its
validity
AhThats why you always reel off
names or papers magazines or books after you tell me something Ive always thought it was a . .whaat is that . . ah Tourette . . I always thought that was a kind of Tourette
you manifested
Tourette
Yeah FUCK!
SHIT! MUTHAFUCKER! suddenly screamed out loud
Thanks for the vote of confidence
Hey Im the best friend youll ever have
You are
Damn straight
he put his best friend through
the wringer his virtue always remained was steadfast
while he on the other hand wasnt a best friend certainly not by the ethic his best friend
exhibited
though he did have a lions share
of memory and from it remembered every indiscretion he made against him and
still had the unbroken honesty to admit them to him when he seemed forget
You always have to reminded me
You didnt remember
No I forgot
Forgetting aint necessarily a bad thing
Its a terrible thing Dont forget
Forgetting sets you up for the next indiscretion because not seeing the
set-up yet again or not recognising the abstract the other applications you
possess as on a resume how a prior job has practical applications
for a wildly different job Common threads
attach all your jobs if you can see their similarity
Okay The quote What was the quote
Memory has become a sacred duty
of all people of goodwill
But
thats really no matter
What
you should recall day-to-day
Memory is Sacred
It offsets any attempts to
manipulate you
Were constantly being manipulated
You believe that
I know that
I have no doubt
Hence my faith
1135, Sunday,
3 7. 16
* Three Dog Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8SRD0FK2EE
