Life without light Is the color they died in Darker than night Is the least of their sins
I can't say you'll like this But we need to risk regret For all the world cried amiss At the lost beauty, we must regret
Sabbath candles burn down low Down to their quick as they melt Until the end of their last glow Can their tears go unfelt?
Digging graves of depravity to hide What it is that was done May you burn in Hell from the inside Your crimes cannot be undone
Remember this and never forget Someday, this sort of madness will end A round of shots drunk to calm our regret Maybe someday we will walk as friends
Are we living as prisoners losing hope Knowing that we have no way out Snapped at the ends of our ropes We look around to fill our hearts with doubt
That humanity will ever quite be humane Though history is but unfinished pages Will we ever learn or ascertain Hatred of the other unnecessarily taints our pages
(c) January 6, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
In this age of growing antisemiticsm, it is fitting that Better Together Forever is holding a viewing of the award winning Schindler’s List. This film serves as a stark reminder of the Holocaust and those who attempted their best to stand between hatred of the Jewish people and those who thought it was alright to slaughter them. The iconic use of symbolism will be discussed below.
This 1993 epic historical drama was produced by Steven Spielberg. It is based on the 1982 novel, Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally The storyline follows how German industrialist, Oskar Schindler used his position to save more than a thousand mostly Polish Jewish refugees by employing them in his factories. Set in World War II, Liam Neeson starred as Schindler; Ralph Fiennes as SS Officer Amon Goth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler’s accountant, Itzhak Stern. The movie was principally filmed in Krakow, Poland. John Williams composed the score, and Itzhak Perlman performed the main theme on violin.
All in all, Schiindler’s List won seven out of the twelve Academy Awards for which it was nominated. In 2004, the Library of Congress selected this great movie for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. One of the reasons for this is it’s iconic use of symbolism. For one thing, parts of this great movie were shot on the grounds of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. This lent an air of realism that cannot be overstated as it smacks the viewer in the face of the factual scenario that was called Shoah – an era of Jewish history that cannot be allowed to be forgotten.
The effectiveness of this classic being shot almost entirely in black and white has led to comparisons of its cinematography to German Expressionism and Italian neor-ealism. Singularly noteworthy was the use of the the child’s tune Oyfn Pripetshik ((On the Cooking Stove) when the Ghetto was being liquidated. May we never forget the horrendous amount of prisoners,especially Jews that were cooked alive in those damnable extermination camps.
The film is a classic study in the primary theme of good and evil. Watch as Schindler develops his morality from beginning to end, there is much to be said about mankind’s potential in this. And pay particular attention to the one person who has color on her. A little girl,played by a three year old, whose coat is the color red. It is said this color red was used to symbolize “innocence, hope or the red blood of the Jewish people being sacrificed in the horror of the Holocaust” The Sabbath candles at the beginning serve as a bookend for the smoke that rises in the killing of these unfortunate persons in the cursed ovens.
“(N)othing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue…. I think also, general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from the exhortation of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented than cured.” – Benjamin Franklin
“What we see here is an example of the final corruption of our most elite institutions. Can Harvard recover? Yes. Will it recover? No. These problems are too ingrained.” – former Reagan Education Secretary Bill Bennett
“Calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard’s code of conduct, correct?” – New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (Harvard Graduate)
“It depends on the context.” – disgraced Claudine Gay, former shortest-term president of Harvard who gained her position due to DEI, aka racism
But was she out of her position for her overt racism? No, indeed. She lost her undeserved place in history as Harvard’s first black president because her academic rigor included 50 excerpts that did not have proper attribution throughout her small body of academic work. Harvard expels students who plagiarize. Why is Ms. Gay being allowed to continue as a professor at Harvard, then? Is original thought somehow racist in our contemporary society?
I would suppose that Dr. Henry Louis Gates eating crow at this point. He had acclaimed Dr. Gay with the accolade that “Claudine has proven herself a first-class academic leader as well as a rigorous scholar in her own right,” It seems it is not the case, right Dr. Gates? Why she is allowed to stay in place is evidenced by Al Sharpton’s remarks about Gay’ forced, bitter resignation.
“This is an attack on every black woman in this country who’s put a crack in the glass ceiling. It’s an assault on the health, strength, and future of diversity, equity, and inclusion — at a time when Corporate America is trying to back out of billions of dollars in commitments.”
It’s about the coercive extortion of billions of dollars on behalf of cultural Marxism (ala Bari Obama’s ACORN tactics), not academic excellence, integrity, or equality of opportunity. This is a tale of a woman who used her race and sex to gain prominence, not her abilities. To this extent this is a tale of utter disgrace which to some extent goes to evidence why DEI and other Frankfurt School theories of Marcuse are examples of failed Post-Marxism, not standards to keep as our society’s ideals. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be rolling over in his grave.
“It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment to their own country.” – Noah Webster (1790)
Sometimes time is a one way glass Looking in to take that pass It might be that you're better than me I guess we'll just have to wait and see
But ain't it sad to feel this bad We're both sure of better times to be had I said, ain't it sad to feel this bad Do you remember when we felt glad
Where we're going to is hard to say We both need somewhere to get away and play To tell the truth is a study in inaccuracy Mother was a devil woman of her necromancy
Bringing life to the nearly dead Mystic visions blazed through my head While a traveling lady with her tarot cards Left me wondering how we ended up laughing this hard
Sometimes time is a one way glass Looking in to take that magic pass It might be that you're better than me I guess we'll just have to wait and see
We jumped before either of us could link Bringing implausible thoughts to the brink Happy being with you, happy with me Golden dolphin were signing shanties in the sea
The scenes we were living felt like jive But wasn't it good to be that much alive Feeling the moment's mercy deep inside The world's spinning took us for its ride
Sometimes time is a one way glass Looking in to take that sunshine pass It might be that you're better than me I guess we'll just have to wait and see
Singing songs that lacked in real meaning We were happy enough in our simply being With open hearts it was enough to believe We could do anything that we dared to conceive
You took my hand and dared to fly with me Leaping out the open window to be free It seemed we could rhyme every word in the universe And as if all was was one in this sacred verse
(c) January 4, 2024 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along
