Books part - whatever

I couldn't do my walk by the river today. It was a damp day, a little chill in the air - not great.

Last Saturday I did get to the Bettendorf library. I only live about two blocks from it and, if you ever bump into me away from work or away from home, it will probably be at a library. At the library, on the "New" shelves, two books were close to each other. One was entitled "John Wayne Gacy", the other, "Heinrich Himmler."

A genocidal mass murderer and a serial killer, rapist and torturer of adolescent boys. Now, there's a choice for you! Yes, there were other selections in the "New Books" section.

Never mind. I checked out the book on the genocidal mass murderer, Himmler. He was the head of Hitler's Gestapo, the SS, and thus maybe the most feared man in Germany.

I read a lot of biography, but why in the world would I choose a life of such a despicable character?

Because, if we are to say, "Never again!" as loudly and as emphatically as we need to, this is precisely the sort of individual we need most to understand. As much as I would love to think that our world has only saints - as much as I want to think that everyone is (here comes my heroes list) a King, a Berrigan, a Merton, a Bernardin, a Roncalli, it just ain't so.

So, Heinrich, here I come.