Today, as I was reading in the yard, James came out with a large, inflatable machine gun. He frantically pantomimed shooting and lobbing what seemed to be imaginary hand grenades.
"Who are you fighting?"
"The Japanese."
I expressed skepticism, and explained that the Japanese are our friends. "They made your car," I told him, referencing his mother's Subaru.
"I'm fighting World War II," he clarified.
I asked why he was not instead fighting Germany or Italy. After some consideration, he decided that the Italians would be his target.
Jack, who had just wandered out, suggested that the Germans would be a better target for his brother's hostility. "They made Hitler," he helpfully explained.
I agreed that Hitler was quite bad, probably crazy, and a failed artist.
"And he tried to kill all the Jewish people," Jack added.
I agreed, and, with his prompting, tried to explain anti-Semitism. To an 8-year-old.
We went through several watered-down explanations, variously suggesting that Hitler was crazy, was using the Jews to get his people to support him (my suggestion), thought the Jewish people were to blame for Germany's weaknesses ("Were they?" "No."), and were blamed by Hitler for his own artistic shortcomings (Jack's idea).
"And then Hitler tried to kill all the Jewish people," Jack summarized, "Which was awkward."
Quite.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment