Rene,

You know, not to "ignite" this thread again..  but...

what gets me so darn angry about this is THE CHILDREN!!!  I expect despicable behavior from adults (who, yes, were once children) --- but to see children antagonizing other children with demonizing prejudice...that just makes me want to scream.  I also want to meet the parents of these kids who had to learn from you know who.

Okay -- vented again --- just feel helpless and feel their pain (Chad and Patrick). They should feel proud of their heritage and tell 'em I said so!! ~smile~

Norm

ace,

we are constant bombarded with our differences and too infrequently with our similarities. in America it is 
almost mandatory to hyphenate your heritage. it helps divide us further. and to divide is to conquer.

writer

writer

bigotry and hatred are learned and, therefore can be unlearned. it is the responsibility of all of us to be proactive teachers. 

well said!

Rene'

Thank you for posting your poem today. I am so sorry that your children are facing such discrimination for their heritage. It angers me to no end that parents are not teaching children to accept others as individuals and to have respect. I've always heard that "children can be so cruel" but that is because parents (and teachers as Norm said) are NOT teaching respect, kindness, empathy, acceptance of differences.

I am ashamed that my parents fed us a regular diet of racism. It was a daily occurance for the adults in my family and neighborhood to make derogatory comments and tell racist jokes. This is the kind of parenting (teaching by example) that propagates the treatment your boys have had to endure. 

I was not aware that being German in today's world would cause one to be marked so unjustly.  Thank you for opening my eyes today.  My beautiful daughter's last name is Westheimer and one day it could be her being ashamed of her father's heritage and name.

Monique

Hi Ren

I echo what Norm said, I couldn't have put it better.  It is ignorance and a pathetic excuse to bully a child.

It is such a shame people listen blindly to bigoted rubbish they are told rather than think for themselves.  This is precisely the reason Hitler was able to get away with such atrocities and why such illogical hatred succeeds.

People are people and should be judged on their own merits rather than historical (or current) stereotyping.

I remember my grandmother who lived in Switzerland would never speak "proper" German only French or Swiss German.  Her sister brother-in-law and baby niece died in Auschwitz and she wasn't happy that my mum and dad werwent to live in Germany for a year when I was about a year old.

My parents they made good friends over there who they still keep in contact with todayand when I was 16, I stayed with them and their children for the summer and they couldn't have been kinder.

Rene,

1) The equating of "German" (heritage) with "Nazi" is an absurdity I do not understand! It creates another psychological "atrocity" --- and in this case it's Chad who is the innocent victim. How unfair is that for a young person not feel wonderful about his rich cultural heritage that not only flows through his veins but is so warmly projected from his Mom?

2) It is doubly insane in that even if a child's PARENTS ( or grandparents) were actually Nazis, how cruel is it to visit the "sins of the fathers on the children?"  And in Chad's case, it isn't even THAT?  It is the same sick logic that labels all Jews of the last 5 centuries as the "Christ killers".

We are dealing with a hate-based mentality that we know children get "at the breakfast table."  We know they didn't invent a hate ethic on their own. It is a learned discrimination impregnated by generations of ignorance and misguided emotional views of history.

I am so sorry for what your boys and you are going through. You certainly know how i feel on this issue. Your soul and conscience are pure and I know how you impart your feelings to your children. I hope they come to understand that being "German" is a GOOD thing and something to be proud of --- not to hide from. The historical scars that must be unduly worn I hope will fade --- they are not really there but the psychological impact brought upon inocents by ill-thinking peers can be devastaing.  The German "experience" should be a wholesome one --- with one of the richest cultures humankind will ever record. Keep making them "feel" it --- play them a Beethoven symphony tonight ~smile~.

On another note: this (me) is one Jewish guy that hopes to get the chance to meet your fine German American guys some day.

Norm