there’s not enough white paint

In 1939 there was a maintenance building in Germany not too far from Munich that looked real nice; it had white-washed paint and a motto on the roof that said: “There is one path to freedom. Its milestones are obedience, honesty, cleanliness, sobriety, hard work, discipline, truthfulness and love of the fatherland.” Inside, however, behind the thin veneer, there were dead men’s bones.

Dachau, the home of Germany’s first concentration camp, bustled on by and life went on, for some. Apparently, it’s easy to conceal atrocities with thin paint. It’s especially effective to paint over blood with politics. It’s easy to not see things for what they are; or, not care.

It’s easy to bustle on by Dachau. It’s easy to remember “choice,” “planning.” It’s easy to paint.

But, blood is thick. And it lasts.

The haunting halls of Dachau won’t soon be forgotten.

Yet will we still paint our thin veneer and still preach our motto?!

Because as we paint “choice,” the blood shows through.