PS HMD Thoughts Update

Thinking of bikes, this is one of my favourite ones.

My last couple of posts were filled with fine words about Holocaust Memorial Day and my attempt to give it contemporary relevance for the students I am teaching. In fact, what probably had the greatest (if any) effect was an image that came to me in the middle of the class, while I was trying to make an intellectual presentation.

All the kids have bikes, and ride them regularly. I said to them, and as I said this I acted my words out physically using the aisle between the desks as my street, I said, so you're riding your bike down the street, and you want to make a right turn. You turn, and there is a gigantic hole in the road and you fall in and the bike is totalled and your legs are smashed ow ow ow ow ow! OR you're riding your bike down the street, and you see a sign that says WARNING gigantic hole if you turn right. So you don't turn right, and go on your way, with your legs and your bike intact.

What is the point of Holocaust Memorial Day? It is a giant warning sign for you, on your journey. That is why we teach you about the Nazi murderers and their victims. So you will remember what evil is possible, and not take that road. Your journey. Your life.

So that's the image that came to mind. I hope it helped make a connection for a bunch of teenage Italian boys who'd just been dragged by their school to see a documentary about Anne Frank, and had little sense of what that had to do with them.