All Of The Selves We Have Ever Been
Menu

all of the selves we Have ever been

The Americans Are Coming

5/25/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

As a life-long student of human behavior,

I try to understand evil.  I am fascinated by the stories of those who have triumphed over wickedness.  How does one endure such horror and live to tell about it?

Some years ago an aging Holocaust survivor shared his story with me.   A young teenage boy in the Nazi concentration camps, he grew desperate and felt a growing desire to end his life and the terrible daily torment.  The boy’s one good fortune was to be in the same camp as his father and to share a bunk with him.  The father was a decorated World War I soldier in their homeland.  He would not encourage such thoughts in his boy.  Each night the father instructed his son to leave their bunk.  Together they would lie on the dirt floor with ears pressed to the ground.  Through the earth the father could hear the reverberations of distant artillery fire.  “The Americans are coming,” whispered the father.  On each successive night father and son climbed from their bunk and pressed their ears to the ground.  They listened for the echoes of gunfire.  The father would estimate the progress of the advancing United States Army.  Each night the boy fell asleep to the words that had become like a good night prayer, “the Americans are coming.” 

And they did.

Whenever I am discouraged by politics and bad behavior, I remind myself that I live in the home of the brave.  I think of that boy in the camps, of who we are, of what we have accomplished, of our place in the world.  “The Americans are coming,” I tell myself.

And they will.

On this Memorial Day, I remember all those who have survived evil.  I remember my Uncle John and Aunt Lillie who served in the war that saved those Holocaust survivors.  I remember my father who came after, cousin Al who served in Vietnam, my beloved veterans at the Missouri Veterans Home in Warrensburg, and all those Americans who came whenever and wherever they were needed.

Never-ending thanks.

0 Comments

    Author

    Lilli-ann Buffin
    ​

      Get Notified of New Posts

    Subscribe

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All
    Acne
    Adulting
    Advertising
    Aging
    Arms
    Barbie
    Baths
    Beauty
    Beloved Community
    BINGO
    Birds
    Books
    Branding
    Bravery
    Cars
    Catching Up
    Children
    Church
    Cliches
    Clothing
    Comfy Couches
    Coping With Stress
    Coronavirus
    Death & Dying
    Diets
    Dignity
    Discernment
    Drive Ins
    Drive-ins
    Driving
    Essential Workers
    Exercise
    Faith
    Falling
    Father's Day
    Food
    Friendship
    Fruit
    Games
    Good Intentions
    Goodness
    Good Old Days
    Grace
    Graduation
    Grandparents
    Gratitude
    Hair
    Handwriting
    Health
    Heroes
    History
    Holidays
    Hope
    Houses
    Humor
    Illness
    Imagination
    Influencers
    Ironing
    John Lewis
    Knowledge
    Laughter
    Laundry
    Leadership
    Libraries
    Listening
    Lists
    MacGyver
    Madge
    Magazines
    Mail
    Masks
    Memorial Day
    Mental Illness
    Miracles
    Moral Lessons
    Mothers
    Music
    Names
    Nancy Drew
    Nature
    Neighbors
    Oreos
    Other-Mothers
    Our Stuff
    Outdoors
    Parenting
    Pets
    Phones
    Poignancy
    Prayer
    Purses
    Reading
    Recipes
    Reinvention
    Revelations
    Rewards
    Rotisserie Chicken
    Saturdays
    Saving The World
    Schools
    Shelf Life
    Showers
    Siblings
    Small Things
    Sorrow
    Speed
    Sports
    Stores
    Substance Abuse
    Success
    Sunshine
    Technology
    Toilet Paper
    Tools
    Truth
    Uncles
    Veterans
    Voting
    Walking
    War
    Water
    Weather
    Wilderness
    Wishing
    Women
    Wonder
    Work

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Other Works
  • What Readers Say