The War

I am watching the Ken Burn's WWII documentary on Connecticut public television. It is riveting. And terrifying.

The War: A Necessary War.

I can't argue with the subtitle.

They just told the story of the Bataan Death March, following the US surrender in the Philippines. I'd never even heard of it.

Bad history student. Bad.

This all happened about sixty-five years ago. So recent.

Now, Japanese internment camps in the States. They didn't imprison the Italian-Americans. Or the German-Americans.

Italy was an axis power. With Germany and Japan. Doesn't that seem strange? Like bedfellows we couldn't even imagine now? How things change.

Working on a story like this (Anne Frank) you want to focus on the triumph of the human spirit, the relationships, the life that can endure impossible conditions. But let that hope flag for a moment, drop the pursuit of the positive, and it is so easy to sink. This all happened. This really happened. It can really get to you. Seriously, the images? The stories? Devastating.

Maybe I should go back to watching bad tv.