"When it is darkest, men see the stars." (-Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A woman named Jillian Curtis from Winona, Minnesota sent me an interesting email one day, asking me to take part in a lesson she is devising for her school-age sons. She wants to educate them about the history of the Holocaust, and how it is through hate and fear that something so horrific could occur in our world.

Her family watched the movie “Paperclips,” about a school that collected six million paper clips to try to represent the sheer magnitude of the Holocaust and its victims. She wondered how she could involve her sons in a similar effort, and developed the idea of asking people to contribute stars to represent those millions of lives lost.

I am taking part in her family’s efforts, and am sending off some stars. If anyone is interested in participating, please jot her an email at:

jillianmcurtis@yahoo.com

Her project brings to mind the South Pacific song by Rogers and Hammerstein that sadly is still pertinent today:

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!