The Day after Tomorrow Will Be Better

My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. (Psalm 120:6-7)

Hitler's hate-filled attacks on Czechoslovakia became more frequent and wounding. Something unpleasant was in the air, but the consensus was that it would never become a true danger. It was hard for peaceful, moderate people to grasp the concrete implications of the thoughts and words of a man like Hitler, whose whole outlook was so different from their own. (Zdena Kapral, Tomorrow Will Be Better, p. 43.)

In a previous post, I have quoted Zdena Kapral's book, Tomorrow Will Be Better, which details her family's suffering and surviving WWII in Czechoslovakia. My wife supplied that quote, but since then, I've started to read the book for myself.

It's one of those books such that, if you don't see a multitude of analogies and applications to the present day situation -- and I'm only 50 pages into its 400 plus pages --, you're either a head-in-sand ostrich or just plain clueless. Assuming you're neither hiding from the truth nor blinded by an evil eye (Matthew 6:22-23), let me point out a self-defense application to the quote above.

Pre-WWII Czechs found themselves in the same position that many potential victims of violence face. They were going along minding their own business, pursuing peace, tranquility and prosperity, when suddenly they became aware of a threatening presence.

I have dealt with the types of threats in a series of posts on confrontational types: the true orc; the raging bull; the big deal; the bantam rooster and the psychopath. Appeasement works with only one of these types. (If you don't remember which one, you probably need to review the whole series.)

Which type or types was Hitler? I'll let you decide. In fact, I hope you'll consider this an exercise in discernment and drawing inferences. Once you decide, please share your conclusions in the comments section.