It's Too Soon For Hitler Jokes

I woke up last night, around 2:00 a.m., with vertigo. 
It's the gift that keeps on giving.

After stumbling down the hallway, I made some peppermint tea, and carefully sat down on the couch in the living room to try and relax with some mindless t.v.

I settled on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, since I was pretty sure the poignant story line wouldn't keep me up and would in fact, bore the spins right out of me so that I could be back to sleep in no time.

And then it happened.

A seemingly harmless, comedic reference to......Hitler?????

There are so many things wrong with this, I don't even know where to start.

But I'm gonna give it a shot.

I've had both the privelage and horror of visiting Aushwitz (one of the largest concentration camps during WWII, preserved as a memorial site and museum) twice in my life and let me assure you, there was nothing funny about it.  The nightmares lasted for months and I still shudder when I picture the rooms full of hair, clothing, and children's toys; visual reminders of just a fragment of the millions of people who lost their lives in one our world's worst historical atrocities. 

Being Polish (don't act like you didn't know) has meant that a great deal of my upbringing was spent reading and learning about my war-ravaged homeland and that Hitler maybe sorta kinda wasn't the nicest guy in town.

So I say, it's too soon for Hitler jokes.

And by too soon I mean, Never.  Never okay.  Not. Ever.

Or Martin Luther King Jr. assassination jokes.

Or 9/11 jokes.

Or jokes about famine, war, disease, developmentally delayed children and adults.......you get the picture.

"But who will we make fun of," you (very annoyingly, might I add) whine.

There are plenty of things and people to make fun of (reality t.v, CEO's, politicians, prescription drug commercials, and most of your relatives and coworkers just to name a few).  Let's leave the super serious stuff alone and respect it by passing along the historical facts to subsequent generations.  When we lighten the tone by making a joke, we take away from the absolute necessity to ensure these events never happen again and eradicate the idea that they are no longer relevant just because some time has passed since their occurance.

I rarely whip out my pointer finger and wag it in the air on this blog.  But this really upset me.  And not just because you got a good night's sleep and I didn't (although I am sort of mad at you for that).

Now, go forth and make fun of someone who really deserves it.

Like your boss.