There are constant stories about ICE arresting people (even from their workplaces and homes) and then shipping them to concentration camps such as Alligator Alcatraz and to prisons in countries such as the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Recently, ICE began sending people to the African nation of Eswatini.

Sometimes, it takes families and friends weeks (or even months) to find out what has happened to the missing person.

These evil tidings remind me of what happened to Lara near the end of the movie Dr. Zhivago

As you may know, this movie was based on the novel Dr. Zhivago by the Russian author, Boris Pasternak.

The book was first published in 1957, at the height of the Cold War following the death of Stalin in 1953. The movie was released in 1965.

Lara is a key character in the book and movie.

A number of poems at the end of the novel are dedicated to her—the love of Dr. Zhivago’s life. He is a poet as well as a doctor, trying to heal what was wrong with Russia. Lara (representing the irresistible, lovely spirit of Russia) weaves in and out of Dr. Zhivago’s life. Eventually, Lara and Zhivago become lovers.

Near the end of the movie, Alec Guinness (playing Dr. Zhivago’s half brother, a committed Communist, narrates what ultimately happened to Lara.

We see Lara walking away down an ominous street beneath a gigantic, sinister poster of a glowering, smiling Stalin.

Alec Guinness (better known today for playing Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars) tells us:

“One day she went away and didn’t come back. She died or vanished somewhere . . . in one of the labor camps. A nameless number on a list that was afterwards mislaid. That was quite common in those days.”

I have watched the movie several times over the years. I studied the novel in a college literature class.

It never crossed my mind that people would disappear in America (under the glowering, smiling gazes of Donald Trump, Steven Miller, and Tom Holman). Much less that it would become “quite common in those days.”

In today’s United States, people are disappearing! Without any opportunity for them to appear before an impartial judge who would determine if their arrest and detainment were lawful and justified; whether they are United States citizens; or have committed any violent crimes.

Back in high school, we learned dry phrases such as habeas corpus and due process of law. These fundamental rights of free people were won through centuries of confrontations with English kings.

It never crossed my mind that these fundamental rights would evaporate within a few months during Donald Trump’s Second Term as President.

Of course, neither did it ever cross my mind that a United States President would deface the Oval Office with tasteless, garish gold ornamentation that befits the ostentatious Palace of Versailles of the French King Louis XIV rather than the tasteful, elegant White House of the United States Presidents Kennedy and Reagan.

As Jesus said, “Watch out for [those who] come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly, they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:15).

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

In what ways are Trump and MAGA coming to you in sheep’s clothing? How? How not? Why?

In what ways are Trump and MAGA ferocious wolves? How? How not? Why?

READ MORE

For related ideas, please read my blogs “Nationalism Is Patriotism Gone Astray”, “Beware the Union of the Power of Money, the Power of Religion, and the Power of the Kingdoms of the World”, “Jesus Climbs the Temple Mount”, “Alcatraz: Escaping by Using ‘Countervailing Powers’ Wisely”, and “Moving the Temple Mount”.