ENGLISH CLASS JUNIOR YEAR

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OUR LIBRARY WAS GETTING REDONE. So out teachers were instructing us how to use the facility and understand the many new advances in library technology. I walked up and down aisles, looking at different books. After all, there was always another book report due and another free reading assignment around the corner.

That was when I looked down and saw a book titled Hitler and the Nazis. On the cover was a bold picture of Adolf Hitler in his Mercedes in one of his triumphant motorcade parades in Berlin or what I would soon understand as his recently annexed territories. As an initially lousy attempt at a joke, I claimed that this book would be my new read. And so, jokingly, in a school filled with Jewish students, I made an exaggerated ploy to read this book that I stumbled upon for my next presentation on library literature.

Then, because I took everything way too far, I checked the book out at the library circulation desk. That was when I sat down and really began to understand Hitler. Not so much the Holocaust and his role in all of it.

That was left out of this book, which focused on his rise to power and the military plans he executed in his plan to conquering all of Europe. This fascinated me on several levels. Firstly, given how little I knew about Hitler, the rush of information was fascinating. Secondly, I came to understand the importance of social interventions at their most basic level. When applied to a larger audience, they can truly be just as impactful as micro or small-time maneuvers.

These small maneuvers carried out on a grand scale made conquering the world seem very possible, even to someone like me, young J. Peters. After all, what young boy doesn’t want to conquer the world? I was no different. I was just learning how to do it from one of the most evil people known to man.

The question was, would I do it in the right way? Would I learn from Hitler’s mistakes ways? Or would I just make my own along the way?

Peters, J.. Wales Middle School: The Rise of J.Peters (p. 35). AuthorHouse. Kindle Edition.

About the Author

J. Peters

Bold 10 Under 10 award recipient Jacques Peters ’08, MSW ’12 . Through his work as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), therapist and disability rights advocate, Mr. Peters fights for those without a voice in various systems of care, such as the New York City Department of Social Services, the New York State Office of Mental Health or the city’s Department of Corrections. Jacques is the author of University on Watch: Crisis in the Academy, which he published under the pen name J. Peters in 2019, and First Diagnosis, published in 2020. Jacques refers to his stance on recovery in his journal articles as “Too big to fail.” No obstacle too big, no feat out of reach, Jacques let nothing stop him in his path to recovery and healing.

maxwellguttman@gmail.com

http://universityonwatch.com

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