I wrote this poem today as I watched the history Channel's presentation on Hitler Youth. I pondered what I would have done, had I been born in 1930 Germany. Would I have grown up to be in Hitler Youth, to believe with all my heart in a monster and to close my eyes to the atrocities he committed? Would I have closed my eyes as my Jewish friends and neighbors were persecuted and carted away "to the east"? Would I have the moral fiber to work for the resistance and to protest, even if it cost me my life? I hope I would have had the morality to do the right thing, to resist the Nazis no matter what. I just don't know and that scares me. I know the people who marched in those parades were people like me, who loved cookies and who dreamed of falling in love. Many of them were brainwashed with propaganda which lead them do horrific acts. One woman tells that when she saw the concentration camps after the war, she remembers a feeling of never being able to forgive herself. I wonder if the Fire nation also has those who regret what they have done, the ones whose eyes have been opened up to the truth behind the propaganda of conquest that they were feed. This could be Iroh, this could be Zuko or just a random soldier. Read and review!
Birthright
Among the charred remains, I stand alone
This used to be a village of people
Once there was life, once there were color
Now everything is black
Once there was the sounds of life, laughter
Now everything is so silent
Only the sounds of my boots echo
In the quiet, I can still hear everything
Mother tucking their children into bed
Singing them to sleep, tears in their eyes
For there can be no tomorrow
There are many more metal boots marching
They can hear it, the sounds of war
Sounds of iron, steel, of destruction
The sounds of screams and crying
I look down at my hands
Hands that clapped for the Lord
Hands that pledged loyalty to his cause
Hands that served his orders
Hands that that will never be clean of blood
My bloody hands and the flame seared earth
This is my inheritance, this is my shame
What have I done?