What The Hermitage Has To Do With Defending Ivanka Trump Over Syria
Sitting within the great hall of the Hermitage in Amsterdam feels oddly profound considering all of the chaos that is occurring back home in the United States. The scene from a distance clarifies just why Europeans shake their heads at our country’s youth and impetulance. The tantrums besieging our nation can be heard from a distance, arriving like waves, whereby one drowns out the fury, senselessness, and, dare I say, stupidity of the next. We are a nation operating on ‘emotion’ -- each of us, too “full” of ourselves to really listen to the other.
Today, it is a brother defending the influence his sister had over their father -- the man charged with defining the direction of our nation and partially “the world’s” future - specific to the execution of innocent children and families in another country. As the Romanov exhibit resides directly across the hall from where I have chosen to remain for the time being, I can’t help but think of the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller in reference to the Nazi agenda and “how history repeats itself”. He wrote:
First they went after the Communists, and I did not stand up, because I was not a Communist.
Then they went after the homosexuals and infirm, and I did not stand up because I was neither.
Then they went after the Jews, and I did not stand up, because I was not a Jew.
Then they went after the Catholics, and I did not stand up, because I was Protestant.
Finally, they went after me, and there was no one left to stand up for me.
My intellect and conscience question how the Syrian children, families, and refugees are any different? Genocide is genocide. If Ivanka (or any of the other women who have influence over President Trump) spoke up against such blatant murder, where is the wrong in that? Frankly, to believe that any one of our nation’s Presidents ruled remiss of the suggestions or influence of the women close to them is to be ‘inexcusably’ naive. Turning back to history and my current location, even the very small country of Amsterdam grew to lead the world through the leadership of an all-male ruling class, heavily influenced by a few very powerful and highly regarded women. And mind you, every other country in the world did so too otherwise the phrase, “Behind every great man is a great woman” wouldn’t so much as stuck around for more than the hot second it was first uttered.
Suffice-it-to-say, I believe each of us needs to take a step-back, revisit history constructively, grow-up in our expectations of how this administration is going to go, help where we can, and possibly stop crying ‘foul’ merely to hear the sound of our own voices. This ‘self-important, divisive’ fog that continues to linger among us is both short-sighted and destructive.
Believe me when I say, President Trump ain’t gonna press the button just because Ivanka is pissed that
al-Assad won’t allow her goods in his country today, tomorrow or any other day going forward just because she rang the bell and President Trump listened. Honestly, as a mom myself, I would have been mortified had she not. The lady obviously learns from history and will react accordingly. Instead of admonish her for it, we should recognize her courage and learn from it, just as her father did and rightly so!
-Laura Wellington, Editor