Nazis, Mennonites, and CEOs

I recently had an interesting discussion with my elder prophet about an interesting discussion he had had at school. Two or three of his classmates are Jewish and most classmates think my son is Jewish too. The topic of ancestry came up among the kids, and one young boy started bragging about his German decent while telling that the Jew-boys in the class weren’t really German. My son defended himself and his friends to this racist little Nazi. Good lad. Nonetheless, he later asked me nervously about his heritage, wanting to know more about where he came from.

Well, I told him that he’d actually have to go back 4-6 generations before he found his German Heritage in Deutschland. But, some of our cousins might have been Mennonite farmers in Germany during WWII. Because they were pacifist farmers, they loved everyone. They would have the town’s Nazi Officer’s over for Sunday Dinner… while hiding entire Jewish Families in their barns and running huge elaborate ‘underground railroads’ for escapees. My son kinda’ liked that story. He realized its okay to be friends with everyone, but to always take care of people in need.

Meanwhile…

I recently had an interesting discussion with a friend at the office about the devious two-faced behavior of our CEO and how some folks succeed here by… just… turning away... and ignoring the injustice. A friend of mine is being set up for failure, lied to, scapegoated, and people who could stand up for her and stand beside her are… just… turning way… ignoring the injustice.

We need to stand up for what’s right. This does not require that we become angry, hateful, or violent – but it does mean Acting, Doing, Standing Up, and perhaps even putting yourself in harm’s way for the sake of those in need.