Home   >   Feature   >   Election 2016

Election 2016

By on November 8, 2016
nat

By Natalie Hughes

When I was a little girl, one of the first movies I ever deeply loved was The Sound of Music… adorable kids just like me, the delightful Julie Andrews, that dashing Christopher Plummer, the marionettes, the grand house, the perfectly crafted songs, it goes on and on.

The dark story underneath all the happy singing children was not lost on me, though, and I remember I couldn’t comprehend how threatening the Nazi regime was and how seemingly good people were turning on their own. The feeling of witnessing even a dramatic reenactment of this betrayal of fellow humans was a gut-churning sickness I’d never felt before.

As I got older, I was taken in by anything I saw on television or came across in print that dealt with the subject of the Nazi-occupied countries. When I began learning what really happened, I just kept thinking it was unimaginable. How did people turn a blind eye to all of the Jews, gypsies and “undesirables” that were being rounded up? How did Hitler ever come into power? Didn’t they see what was happening? How did humans ever treat humans as though they were lower than animals? How did they not see that the Jews were just like them?

I was grateful I didn’t have to live in those countries in that era.

I am of German descent, and I found I seldom mentioned it to people. I was ashamed and afraid of being associated with the gruesome German past… even though my family came to Canada long before World War II.

So here I am, age 46, and now I see.

Now I see what it looks like when a country gets whipped into a frenzy of hatred based on race and differences of political opinion. 
Now I see the blindness of collective anger, the spreading of lies, the unwillingness to see fact due to the need to be right and to feel better than others.
I am witnessing the fracturing of a powerful nation, in my lifetime.

I am witnessing the threat to destroy democracy, to abandon allies 
and to round up people by race, religion or birthplace. In 2016. 
I am not a fear-monger. But I am afraid. 
I don’t want to see this. But I have my eyes wide open.

I don’t know how to communicate in a way that could convince anyone of any thoughts other than the ones they desperately believe. So I am saying this, in my little way. I want peace for our neighbours in the US. I hope for a wave of awakenings for them. I pray it doesn’t come with the cost that history has written before.

Vote, friends in America. Vote for inclusion, vote for clear-headedness, vote for diplomacy, vote for democracy. Show hate where it’s at.

 

nataliebreeze1Natalie Hughes, editor, writer, performer and songwriter, is a gifted interpreter of the human experience, expressing passion, humor, heartbreak, healing and freedom to a depth that few writers reach. Natalie is also the Musical Director for Crystal Andrus Productions, providing music for short films, international speaking engagements, and powerful meditations. Hear her in music and conversation weekly as the co-host on The Crystal Andrus Show. Natalie lives along the picturesque waterways of Peterborough, Canada with her husband – photographer Michael Hurcomb – and her two children. For more, visit nataliehughes.com and find Natalie on iTunes,  Twitter and Facebook.

About simply...woman!

We encourage spreading the message of knowledge and wisdom. We appreciate and thank our featured partners for their articles. All information provided on Simply…Woman online magazine is for reference only; the content is based on the authors’ experiences and therefore is not intended as a substitute to the services of a fully qualified professional. Although every reasonable effort is made to present current and accurate information, Simply…Woman makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information.