John Kaufman checks in from Norway
- Melissa Herrera: Not Waiting for Friday
- February 23, 2025
- 2827
I have some guest columnists lined up to share some different perspectives I feel are important in our current times. First up is former Holmes Countian John Kaufman, now a professor in Norway. Thank you for contributing, John.
When I moved to Norway 31 years ago, at the age of 21, I didn’t think I would ever move back to the US. But that had nothing to do with the US. It had to do with me. I was starting a new life here, and over the years I have raised three children in Oslo, made amazing friends, completed my college degrees and found a job that I love. I teach history, primarily the history of Christianity, at a school that trains both ministers for the church and teachers for the school system.
I grew up on a farm outside of Berlin, graduated from Hiland High School in 1991 and took for granted, like most people I knew, that as a Christian I should vote Republican. Although my political views have changed over the years, I have been able to understand why many Christians supported Republican politics because of where I grew up. As I look at what is happening now, however, I struggle to see how the political actions and viewpoints of the current administration could possibly be further from the teachings of Christ.
One of the most important books I read as a history student was a study of the ideology found in Germany before the Second World War. The study was written in Norwegian in 1971 and carried the title “Our utter contempt for weakness”. Trying to look behind the grotesque results that came later – such things as mass murder, extermination camps and the horrors of the Second World War – the author identifies an utter contempt for weakness as the primary driving force of the movement. Germanic and Nordic strength is contrasted to all forms of perceived weakness and difference – the sick and the handicapped, the poor, gender minorities, racial and ethnic minorities and of course the Jews. The weak were either to be subjugated to the strong or removed from society.
As I look from abroad at what is happening in the US now, the chaos is so intense that it is tempting to simply look away. I have therefore chosen to focus my attention on one aspect of what is happening, this contempt for weakness. This focus creates a sort of logic in the chaos. Ending aid to the poor of the world; removing immigrants and placing them in internment camps; censoring science and journalism that would talk about equality and diversity and discrimination and a host of other banned words; erasing the existence of gender minorities; giving support to dictators who oppose democracy — all of these actions speak of utter contempt for weakness and difference.
I will not be surprised if the next step is to end or drastically reduce Medicare and Medicaid, for why should the strong and the rich pay for the healthcare of the poor and the old? Trump once told his nephew that he should just let his disabled son die. This is the very essence of the utter contempt for weakness. Why should the weak, the sick and the poor go on living? This is antithetical to everything that Christ seems to have said in the Gospels. The weakness is perceived weakness. What the so-called strong think of as weakness. But those they call weak are some of the strongest among us, by other metrics.
This contempt for weakness is now being played out in full view by the combined actions of the US president and the richest man in the world. Is this really the country we want to be?
I tell my students that history doesn’t repeat itself, but history often rhymes. Later times can resemble earlier times in uncanny ways. Perhaps it is easier to see this resemblance from a distance. This is at least the resemblance I see when looking at my home country from afar. And so, I find it even more unthinkable to move back to the US now, not only because I have a good life here in Norway, but because I fear the path my country is walking.
Melissa Herrera is a reflective writer who captures the beauty and sorrow of change. With a career spanning 14 years as an opinion columnist and the publication of two books, she resides in Stark County with her husband and four cats. She writes to preserve memories. You can reach her at junkbabe68@gmail.com.