the list is life

middle of the week...my "to do" list is drowning in the mess of my pocketbook...and my mind wanders...the oscars are over...an end to movie awards season...but i admit, for me one of the guiltiest pleasures in the weeks leading up to the big night is catching old oscar-winning movies on tcm and other networks...they remind me of what sparked my love affair with the movies...the night before oscar, there was another "oskar" on tv...oskar schindler...and there we were watching "schindler's list"...no matter how hard i try for composure the minute itzhak perlman plucks that first string i am gone...and there are other moments...the tears flowing freely during the ending...it is twenty years since the movie won best picture...and as i pause to reflect on what that means i realize that as a society we are approaching a point where there will be no one left from that generation...no survivors...no schindlers...no one who looked the other way...or looked in horror, helpless...no demonic leaders...no sheepish followers...all will be swallowed by time...as a second-generation american...jewish american...there is always unspoken gratitude that my beloved family never bore the tattooed numbers or emotional scars of survivors...and yet, we are reminded yearly, on yom hashoah, and during memorial services...during poignant pleas from the pulpit...that it is our obligation to remember...and i do...