Fighting words, selective forgettery, and dismissiveness are no joking matter.  My worldview was indelibly altered in my mid-20s while working with a water management agency in West Germany along the border  with East Germany. Guard dogs prowled under the anonymous hostile watch from towers along the fence that divided families for decades, and my coworkers only half- joshed when they said I should be careful which side of the stream I should get out on if I fell, because the guards would shoot me out of sheer boredom. The violence of war started there with words, outrageous and unchecked, like "Build a wall!" now.   I feel a quiet horror, having experienced the consequences of war there as the US begins to resemble East Germany more, even as Germany has become more open and democratic as they heal.  In our lifetimes we have the responsibility of remembering, keeping these intergenerational wounds in conscious awareness and healing them. Our children carry the burden unfairly otherwise