ANN FRANK

I was trying to explain the Holocaust to children
Who were reading Anne Frank’s diary
But had never heard of Hitler.
How Hitler and his henchmen
devised a solution
To wipe out all the Jews
And of the horrors that took place
As they pursued the plan to rid the world
Of those who were not like them
Or by the Nazi definition were unfit to live.
And they asked” But how could people do this?”
And I could not answer that question. This is
the heart of darkness - how we become our basest selves
with the consent of our passions, or in the name of our god,
or the approval of our institutions, or for land, or
For glory or for fun or even for love.
We teach them right from wrong with the incentive
That goodness and faith are rewarded -
They know from their own lives
That this is not true, but they choose to believe
As we do. Because we don’t know what else to do.