I spent the day at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I was ensconced in the Library and Archives. My research didn’t go well. While the library staff was friendly, the librarian I had access to was a bit abrupt and condescending. Mostly I hit dead ends. Thirty minutes before the museum was closing I found a separate research area on the 2nd floor. The staff person here was much more helpful and within just a few minutes I found some primary sources. I’ll be back to that department first thing in the morning.
My day was completely focused on the atrocities of the 1940’s in Europe. For me the rest of the world didn’t exist today. I was on a mission and I didn’t pay attention to much else. When the museum was closing I walked outside and took in the clean, safe, freedom of Washington DC and the USA. I opened my phone to see the time and was greeted with the CNN headline “2 killed, dozens injured in Boston Marathon bombing.” The truth is I can’t really comprehend this at the moment. My head is spinning with the incomprehensibility of this. The question “why” is all I come up with. What does an act like this accomplish?
Haven’t we all seen enough death, destruction, and senseless violence?
K Heidi Fishman (Popje and Me) 