SUMMARY
Ordinary people allowed it to happen. Most of the civilians would never have dreamed of committing those atrocities themselves, but they did not stop it because it was not directed at them. Before they knew it, the Nazis ruled and the ordinary people lost control. In the end, as a nation, they were guilty of mass genocide. And millions of good, honest, ordinary people were slaughtered.
She’s inserting her next photograph. Mass Grave.1945.
Her mother walks in.
“How’s it going?”
“Nearly finished.”
“Do you know what the time is?”
“I know. I won’t be much longer.”
“I’m going to bed. Good night. Love you.”
“Love you too. Good night.”
Sasha rubs her eyes, takes another bite of her muesli bar and carries on working.
WHAT CAN THIS TEACH US FOR THE FUTURE?
Believe it or not, antisemitism still exists today and is fuelled by extremists.
So is racism and hate against countless other minority groups and religions.
History has proved that there will always be people who spread extreme hatred and try to exterminate people from other groups or different religions. From the Spanish Inquisition to Nazi Germany. From former Yugoslavia to Cambodia.
She inserts a B&W photograph, titled Field of human skulls. Cambodian Killing Fields. 1975-1979.
and continues writing:
If we are to learn anything from history it is this: It is up to us. If we do not stand up against the hatred, against these bullies, it means we are going along with it. It means that we are not all that good, or all that innocent, after all.
She searches for the quote she’s been saving, finds it and inserts it:
“ALL THAT IS NEEDED FOR THE FORCES OF EVIL TO SUCCEED IS FOR ENOUGH GOOD PEOPLE TO REMAIN SILENT.”
Sasha types up her final paragraph.
IN CONCLUSION:
People look back at history now and think: how did it ever happen? It happened because most of the good people stayed uninvolved until it was too late.
THE NEXT NIGHT. 19:30
Sasha is stretched across the 2-seater, her parents are sitting on the couch. They’re watching TV coverage of Sudanese refugees fleeing for their lives.
Her mother takes in a deep breath.
“Those poor people. Humans can be so smart, but in some ways we never learn.”
“What’s it help to just keep saying that? I’m going to my room.”
Sasha sits at her computer for twenty minutes, randomly checking out Facebook. She looks up at her pin-board. And stops.
Let me give it a go.
She starts typing.
She wants to talk to all the good people in the world. She wants to say:
DO SOMETHING! WE CAN STOP THIS!!!
So she writes an email. One page long.
And she sends it to her small circle of friends.
And that’s how this whole big thing gets started. As simple as that. On a Tuesday evening at 8.20pm. In a bedroom, in a house, in a suburb in Australia.
THE SAME NIGHT. TWO HOURS LATER
When she sees the message, Kate wonders what Sasha has forgotten to tell her. They’d been together all afternoon. She reads:
Hey Kate
Remember our discussion on New Year’s Eve?
Thought I’d try something.
S. xox
She opens the attachment.
It seems so simple and yet so right. Deciding it’s too late to call, she sends her a quick reply:
Luv it! Let’s get this thing rolling.
Kate forwards Sasha’s message to four friends. Then she makes herself a tea, grabs a handful of roasted almonds, which she eats on her way to her study, and gets going on her English Lit. project.
Emma just happens to be the first of Kate’s four friends to open her email.
— How cool.
Her brother looks up.
What?
— Check this out.
He comes and leans over her shoulder dropping some sauce out of his burger onto her neck.
— Gross! Get outa here!
She wipes the sauce off. Reads it again.
She adds her name with conviction then thinks of four good friends and forwards it. She thinks about it a bit more and sends it to another three.
THE NEXT MORNING. SASHA’S HOUSE
Sasha picks up her school bag and hauls it onto her back.
“Sasha, I don’t know how you carry that thing.”
“Oh please Mum. It’s only six more months.”
“I can’t believe you’re nearly finished.”
“Dad, can you grab my cello for me? It’s so heavy.”
“Couldn’t you have learned the flute?”
“Very funny. Actually that wasn’t bad … for an accountant.”
“Watch it.”
“Come on you two comedians. You’re going to be late.”
“Oh Mum, I sent you an email. Check it out.”
LATER THAT DAY. SCHOOL COURTYARD
Sasha and her circle of friends speak about the email idea at lunchtime.
This between:
Deciding whose house to study at over the weekend.
Checking they’re all still going to the same place for Leavers. Comparing
