In the flickering glare of the fanatic flames that threaten to consume the heart of our nation, Jeremy Stopford has submitted a sermon he preached many years ago. In it, he quotes a post-Civil War prayer made by Robert E. Lee:

“May God rescue us from the folly of our own acts, save us from selfishness, and teach us to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

In a sense, Lee’s prayer began to be answered before he asked, when his Army of Northern Virginia lost the last great battle of the Civil War. America began its ascent from the evils of slavery, and God helped us to start up what has become the long road to equality. But now people are sowing the dragon’s teeth of hatred and division. We must ask ourselves whether selfishness and hatred will keep us from ever attaining that goal?

In light of current events, and the attempts by some to erase the facts of history, we should ask ourselves whether we are now producing a climate where similar things can again occur.

The Jewish people wisely build Holocaust Museums because they do not want the evils that befell them and millions of others to be forgotten. George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A word to the wise is sufficient.

—Frank Becker