Thanks for this observation. Apparently some of my relatives in Austria thought that all was well despite Angschluss. They didn’t make it. This is one Jew whose antennae are up 24/7. I’d rather be a canary in the mine than a dead Jew in an oven.
Re the “scarecrow” effect. I saw a woman get hit by a car as she crossed in the middle of a 4 lane street at night. When she landed with a thud, I thought she was dead and called the police to report that accident and that I thought she was dead because of the loud impact of her hitting the ground.
The firehouse was about a block away and the police/ambulance arrived in a matter of a minute or two. I wandered over to tell the police what I had scene, but stopped next to young woman at the scene. I remarked to her that I thought the victim was dead but I couldn’t see her body, to which she she said, “I’m not dead.”
You could have knocked me over with a feather. Apparently her backpack shielded her from serious injury.
I said “I’m glad you’re not”. She said, “So am I”.
The rest of the night was a lot easier on the mind knowing that this woman had survived in good condition. I never did talk to the police as the woman had already told them that she was wrong to cross the street the way she had.
Lessons learned: Never cross a dark. busy street except at the crosswalk. Miracles do happen.
Excellent point, and if you could distill it down a little bit, it would make a great bumper sticker!