I Heart Spencer, Part 2

My mother and I have talked to a lot of groups about The Year of Goodbyes since the book came out in 2010, and earlier this week we were reminded of the rewards that each encounter brings.  This time, the occasion was the culminating event for the 2013 All-Spencer (Iowa) Reads program.  Mom and I Skyped Tuesday night for more than an hour with folks who, undeterred by typical upper Midwest winter conditions, came to the Spencer Public Library to talk about the book.  It was a serious conversation; questions and comments from the participants steered us all toward  the hard truths and imponderables at the heart of what happened 75 years ago in Germany and Europe.I've said before that I'm aware of a certain exhaustion, at least in some quarters, with stories that relate to the Holocaust.  I don't have a lot of sympathy for this point of view.  And it wasn't in evidence on Tuesday night in Spencer, where adults and students alike drank in my mother's recollections as if her perspectives could illuminate their lives today--which, of course, they can."All the stories are important," my mother said.  "We survivors have to speak and have to tell people what happened.  Once we're gone, there are no more witnesses."