A VIRTUALLY SHATTERING MEMORIAL

You don't understand it, can't grasp the concept
I am attending another memorial on-line
Not unlike the Shiva I sat earlier this year, for a friend
This one is huge and people from around the world
are attending; I am honoured to be one of them

Some folks, oh not you, but maybe you - I don't know
Can't comprehend the need for someone not Jewish
to attend this particular memorial
And I am awash in resentment and a need to defend
my stance and that of all the others aligning themselves
with me -

And not just because of the thousands of Christians—Roman
Catholics in particular were targeted,
Also homosexuals, forced to wear pink badges
the same way Jews had to wear yellow stars
And the gypsies - it is estimated the entire eastern European
gypsy population was exterminated
And anyone deemed handicapped, the Nazis had no patience
nor use for them—not to be helped, just to be killed.

Although all of these additional exterminations would be
reason enough to stand in remembrance with Holocaust
survivors
And I'll admit, they are certainly part of the reason I want
to remember; there is verity in the "never forget" slogan
that should ring loud in all ears

But it's the spectre of anti-Semitism rising large and too
real, in too many countries throughout the world
It's the ongoing strife in the Middle East, although strife
is way too mild a war when I consider the number
of children dying daily
It's hearing that swastikas are being painted on the doors
of synagogues here in North America
And on my friend's door in New York City...

To remember Kristallnacht is to relive an unbearable
part of history
It needs to be relived virtually, in memory, again and
again, until we don't end up actually reliving it.