T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Retired educator Brad Wilkening tells attendees at his Lessons of the Holocaust event at the Mowry Irvine Mansion about circles of care and concern people can work on to help prevent future genocides. He was part of the History on Second Tuesdays program by the Historical Society of Marshall County.

Before delving into the brutal history of the Holocaust, presenter Brad Wilkening spoke about the hatred and intolerance of society. That might be connected to the news.

“It is my belief that the first news we hear or see on an average day is filled with hate, anger, violence, death, destruction and war,” he said. “Those things get the front page.”

Wilkening wants to build a world filled with compassion, caring, love, hope and understanding. The purpose of last night’s program, “Lessons of the Holocaust,” is to do that. Hosted by the Historical Society of Marshall County, roughly 25 people gathered at the Mowry Irvine Mansion to hear the lessons Wilkening taught.

The first part of the program was intended to teach attendees how to expand their goodness and kindness, he said.

When Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower encountered the Dachau concentration camp, he wanted to make sure journalists were there to cover every aspect. He wanted eye witness accounts of what took place.

“In 1945, Eisenhower said there’s going to come a period of time in U.S. history when people will say this didn’t take place,” Wilkening said. “Guess what period of time we’re at? There are people who will say this is fake news.”

People say they will never allow another genocide to happen, but there are some now, he said. In Darfur there is mass killing of non-Arabs. There are ongoing killings of Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar armed forces.

“How in the world can things like this happen?” Wilkening asked.

To help attendees understand how to prevent such atrocities, he displayed a graphic of circles of caring and concern and spoke about how to spread care and concern. There are seven circles in total, with the first circle being a person’s self.

“We have to be the best version of ourselves if we want to spread goodness and kindness, don’t we?” Wilkening asked. “If I go home and beat my wife, if I am a child abuser or drug addict, what good am I spreading in the world?”

He then gave attendees an assignment to work on their physical, mental and spiritual well-being every day and reflect on what they did during the day. Wilkening likes to listen to music every morning during his time of reflection, but said other people will think about what they did when they go to bed. He said each person can decide for themselves the best way to carry out their assignment.

The second circle is family; third, friends who are closer than family; fourth, friends who a person might play cards with; fifth, people in occupations outside of what a person works in; sixth, politicians; and seventh, the world.

Even though Wilkening said he did not want to spend a lot of time speaking about the sixth circle, he did reflect on his childhood. His mother was a Kennedy Democrat and his father was a Nixon Republican.

“Imagine that today,” Wilkening said. “. . . They didn’t get divorced. They didn’t separate assets. They didn’t scream and swear and throw things at each other. They acted like civilized adults with a difference of political opinion. . . . I want that world back, because I know today that people on the far right and people on the far left, as far as I’m concerned, are acting like third graders on a playground. You’re adults. Treat each other civilly and with respect.”

Compromise is important and he asked when was the last time anyone has gotten everything they wanted at work or in a relationship. That never happens.

“Compromise means we get something good from the right, we get something good from the left and we can move society forward with something that benefits the mass majority of people, even if it’s not a perfect situation for this side or that side,” he said.

Wilkening said people don’t have to get the seventh circle, but asked them to spread the care and concern at least to the fourth circle.

“If we don’t take care and concern of ourselves, family and friends, which already know our love for them and we know their love for us; if we don’t get out and at least touch circle four; if we don’t show people who don’t know our love and concern, the world will never change,” he said. “You’re kids and your grandkids and your great great great grandkids will grow up in this world of hate, anger, violence, death and destruction,” he said.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.