April 19 is a date in history that has mixed messages of inspiration, but also tragedy!
In 1775, the American Revolution began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, inspiring people in this nation and worldwide!
In 1943, the Jews of Warsaw, Poland, forced into a ghetto by the Nazi occupiers, began their revolt against the Nazis, a heroic event, but ultimately a great tragedy as they became part of the Final Solution that the Nazis had planned for the Jews of Europe!
In 1995, we had the greatest terrorist attack by domestic enemies when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building, killing 168 Americans and injuring nearly a thousand people, and this by a white Christian fanatic who was allied with domestic militia groups, not with foreigners or Muslims, as people wanted to believe!
And tomorrow, April 20, ushers in reminders of the birthday of Adolf Hitler, who caused more loss of life in twelve years in power than anyone in world history, and also the anniversary in 1999 of the horrific Columbine Massacre in Colorado, where two high school students caused mass murder by their sick plot against high school classmates and teachers!
It is tragic that so much tragedy centers around these two days in a row, but yet the inspiration of the American Revolution and the struggle of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto also inspire us to plan for a future world with the hope of more good than evil triumphing over time!