The talk that Jennifer Yoder gave on Monday has given me a lot to think about. First off it, showed how little I actually know about Germany: its culture, government, and problems. The talk starts out setting the stage for the rise of Chancellor Merkel as well as talking about the various ways the politicians before Merkel have dealt with the ugly truth of the way Germany acted during both World Wars. I knew about what they did during both world wars since that was taught to most American students during their time in school, but the way the German politicians handled it was a different story. This lead to my second big area of questioning: How did/does my own country deal with our dark past?
Merkel argues that the best way to deal with a dark past, is to not shy away. Rather, talk about it and try and make amends . This in my opinion is one of the toughest tasks a politician can undertake. There must be an immense amount of thought put into how to go about doing it. I believe that Chancellor Merkel did a great job in talking about the past by having a reason behind her talks. She does not just call people out without a “but .” The “but” is the second part of a sermon where the preacher says that their is hope from hell. You are a sinner, “but” you can still go to heaven. Angela gives everyone the “but” in her greater call of moving forward through dealing with the past. This is where my first thought goes into my second thought.
A student in the class asked if this could possibly lose her support if the GDR called her out for being anti-German. This one question is in my opinion the reason that I believe that we haven’t gotten over our deep evil of slavery. The politics that I have been seeing has not been a politics of welcoming. It has been a long series of mud throwing even after the parties entirely switched their platform. The greater call for a welcoming, remembering country is not one that would fall on many listening ears. Many politicians have in the past tried to welcome talks about the evils of slavery as well as tried to fix it. Many highly motivated high schoolers were beat over the head with the idea that we are evil people through our AP US history class. All of those things being in place will not really change too much though. The way to change in a country like ours is through wide spread grass roots movement. Change is slow. Politicians are too worried about getting re-elected and helping lobbyist that helped them.
I don’t believe that the way to a more welcoming country is through laws or funds for memorials. Both of those are helpful and wonderful things on their own, however the only way to change is through the goodness of people. Money is not a good payment for the death of millions, and the argument that “It wasn’t me” is not good enough. We as a country need to realize that it takes actions and heart felt love to change problems. Not money, or laws, or even speeches. I believe that this is the one reason that Chancellor Merkel has turned Germany into the indispensable power in Europe: her call for action and love.