Climb Every Mountain
Although a bit unusual, I would have to say my first knowledge of the existence of the Third Reich came from Rodgers and Hammersteins’ Sound of Music. A lifelong fan of the movie, the music may have inspired me, but the story of the VonTrapp family seeking freedom at the price of everything they owned had a profound impact on my desire to dig deeper into world history. And the personal motivations that made it.
As I grew up, the most intriguing plot twist was the scene when Rolph Gruber, suitor of Liesl VonTrapp, hangs back when he hears her gasp while the VonTrapp family were hiding in the cemetery, prior to their escape from Austria. As the Baron approached him, even though Rolph had him at gunpoint, there was a moment when I honestly thought some kind of common sense would take over and he would honor the previous bond between himself and Liesl. But he didn’t. I often wondered what kind of force could drive an individual senseless, barring personal opportunity of love and freedom.
The other day, the sting of betrayal hit me, just as I had imagined when I witnessed it on the big screen. The forsaken trust of Liesl and the ignorance of Rolph meeting face to face with the Baron VonTrapp, from behind a tombstone, I too, had my moment. Although it came in the form of a misstep, this incident let me know how we are at a pivotal moment with regard to our loss of freedoms.
Another patio visit, trying to offer the comfort of a loving voice in person, as well as the chance for a visual inspection of my husband’s physical condition, an accident happened. Our monitor, trying to supervise two visits at once, was across the patio. As a fly landed uncomfortably close to his hand, I jumped to shoo it away. Unfortunately for the rule enforcers, my hand touched his, for the first time in months. As it did, he opened his fist and clenched three of my fingers. Equally rare, simultaneously he stared into my eyes. Time stopped.
As our monitor darted across the patio, I turned my head toward her as she screamed. “Janie, no! No! Let him go!”
“I’m trying. He’s holding me.” Prying myself away, I said, “There was a fly on him”
I was shocked when she snapped at me, “No there wasn’t! And you’re holding him!”
Now semi-implicated with perjury, she went on to say, “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
“Hey, if you just forget about it, no harm. It was an accident, sterilize his hand.”
Then she tossed a blow I couldn’t unhear, “I’m supposed to report this. And when I do, you probably won’t get to see him anymore.”
She just threatened me! She threatened Frank! So, I threatened her! “You do that and I’ll show you trouble! I DARE YOU!” The shame of my response, hit me as quickly as those words came out of my mouth. This place had become a part of me, despite this forced separation. My greatest education in love, came from within the very walls of the building I was standing in front of. And no one could care for Frank’s needs better than they. What would cause me to say that?
The sensitivity of my reaction, was due in part, to what I perceived as a clueless response of considering Frank to be a non-thinking, non-responsive individual. Yes, he is capable of clenching my hand and I was overwhelmed to feel it once again. Nonetheless, I was embarrassed that I had just railed on this normally sweet, part-time life enrichment employee. But then again, there was no valid reason for either one of us to have acted this way.
The incident made me think of not only Rolph Gruber, but the shadows of appearances of others in the Sound Of Music underscoring the sign of the times. There was an inherit responsibility many had taken upon themselves to be the ‘Ken’s and Karen’s’ of the era. Snitching was no longer an act to be used with common sense. It was an absolute necessity for the regime to rise.
I was reminded of an article I had read about the pre-WWII atmosphere in Austria. Like much of the European countries in the region, financial struggles weakened the will and many were looking for relief. Enters Germany. Utopian promises of jobs, food, education, doctors and conveniences baited a willing nation. The assurance of a greater good swayed the people to accept change.
With the broken promises of cooperation in order to ‘flatten the curve’ of Coronavirus, I saw the correlation of Rolph and his brownshirts to the Ken’s and Karen’s and their fellow snitches. They honestly feel that this cooperation and enforcement, much by shaming, tattling and occasionally doxing, is for the greater good of us all. Sadly, just as the comrades of pre-WWII had no access to the end agenda, the millennials and younger have been denied comprehensive world history in their education. This across the board conditioning seems to mirror previous accounts of setting the narrative for control.
I admit that I could have been a bit hyper-sensitive regarding the temporary demeanor of our monitor, but five years of personal study and research to better broadly serve those without voices, causes me constantly question motives. My greatest sense of alarm is for those that see their work as taking care of specimens and not people. Like it or not, there is a growing disrespect for the aged and infirmed. The passage of assisted suicide laws in the United States is the nucleus from which my radar extends. In Denmark, those laws have morphed into legalized euthanasia, with Canada hot on their heels.
Among the Third Reich’s initiatives, Austria among other provinces, was informed that their elderly, infirmed and mentally compromised persons would be taken to institutions for rehabilitation and returned to them as functioning or healed individuals. Just as the promise of free-flowing food and textiles turned into rationing, no one was ever returned from those institutions.
Surprisingly, many are unaware, the first three hundred thousand to be exterminated by the hand of Hitler’s Nazis, were not the Jews. It was the disabled, whose cooperative disappearance was accompanied by promises of care. The experiment to eliminate the less desirable with minimal notice was deemed successful, instigating the practice to ship the Jews and those who resisted, away from the general population to camps such as Auschwitz. Out of sight, out of mind.
I could pretty much assure you that the Rolphs’ or most of the brownshirts never saw the atrocities coming their way. As unimaginable as it is, we are not immune to acts of outrage occurring on our own soil. Even though some do not realize it, we just witnessed as a country, what I consider the mass murder of elderly for the sake of using the so-called dispensable to create numbers of deaths to add to the hysteria hype of Coronavirus.
Governor Cuomo’s actions were no mistake. The reported number of sixty-five hundred nursing home deaths, is in reality closer to eleven thousand. Intentionally skewed to spread the numbers, hospital deaths are counted as such, regardless if a victim had been transferred from a nursing home. Convenient, huh? And Cuomo wasn’t alone. Certain therapies were outlawed in Ohio, California, Washington, New Jersey among other states with Democrat leadership. I seem to recall a time in the not so distant past, where failure to treat was considered malpractice or even negligent homicide.
But how did we get here and worse yet, why are we so accepting of conduct that would have been unthought of, just six months ago? Normal behaviors reflecting compassionate beliefs have morphed nearly as fast as the conversion of a people two thousand years ago, welcoming Jesus with palms and accolades on a Sunday to unilaterally condemning Him to death by Friday.
Good words of noble intentions have become deceptive weapons, manipulating our behaviors with hashtags such as #InThisTogether and #StayAtHome. Granting everyone a sense of empowering authority, they deputize those who have no clue to the end game of these shutdowns. We are allowing a small percentage of the population to double down on fear while entrusting those with no knowledge of an agenda they have suddenly been recruited into.
Though I twisted in fear that I would be called out and denied another visit with my husband, I poked around to discover what type of education would entitle a twenty something with such vitriol. I thought about the Baron VonTrapps expediency to escape with his family from the plans the Nazis had laid out for him. The difference was truth. The Baron recognized that the ends do not justify the means. There are those that operate on fear and false promises and there are those who are adherent to truth and love. Because of faith, hope and love, the Baron’s eyes were open to the validity of what was real and what was not.
We are in the midst of a war of a thousand simultaneous battles, and the spontaneous anger pitted against each other has revealed the spiritual nature. I do not doubt that we are wedged in the confrontation between God and Satan because we were submissive to apathy. It is apparent we are at the crux of freedom versus control.
Like weeds among the wheat, we now have multiple generations among us that have been taught to embrace secular culture. Similar to the rise of the Nazi empire, our youth have been indoctrinated, God has been removed, love has been redefined and the respect for life has eroded at both ends from the womb to the tomb. Again, ruffian attitudes projecting terror for the non-compliant harbored by those with a fanatical disrespect for life, have risen to threaten the very heart of our nation.
Seeming like an unrepeatable backdrop from a love story that captured our hearts over fifty years ago, the portrayal of similarities are frightfully paralleled with the happenings of today. There is a way to win this battle without becoming like the faceless compliant who regards agenda over love. Aligning to the spirit of the VonTrapps, I thought of the final quote from the Reverend Mother as she bids farewell to the family. “I lift up mine eyes into the hills, from whence cometh my help…God be with you.” There it is. Seeking the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Light is the key to our freedom. Praise be our Lord Jesus Christ.
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