Bob Schwartz

Among my old correspondence I found a letter that closed with this:

“The 90s are turning out to be the decade when the words “it can’t happen here” are quickly disappearing from the language.”

It doesn’t matter what the topic was. I’m not a forecaster who could see that whatever I meant then is doubled now. Anybody who studies history knows that no nation or society or generation is immune to unwelcome forces. None.

Monty Python was wrong in joking that “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Actually, if you pay attention, everybody should expect the Spanish Inquisition or something like it. Anywhere, any time.

So much good goes on, thank goodness. But people being people, in the 1990s and today, stuff is going to happen. And “it can’t happen here” is never true.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz