Is here: “Daydreaming In Germany.”
On Yom Kippur, last month, I was in Berlin. I am not a religious Jew, but on the High Holy Days I like to be in a synagogue, listen to the ancient lilt of Hebrew prayer and allow my mind to drift from daily cares. It is a form of respite. We all need that these days. Worry has become an early riser. . . .
. . . This is a time of growing fears, in Europe and the United States. Ghosts have stirred. Humanity never quite grows out of the buffoon’s attractions: the scapegoats he offers; the fast money; the rush of violence; the throb of nation and flag; the adrenaline of the mob; the glorious future that will, he insists, avenge past humiliations. . . .
. . . An autocratic, nativist, xenophobic, nationalist reaction is now in full swing on both sides of the Atlantic — as the election in Austria demonstrates again. It demands resolute vigilance. It also demands that we listen, try to understand and resist fracture. . . .
. . . We find ourselves once again “on the cusp of avoidable disaster.”
There is way more to the column than that snippet. Click.
