Today’s prompt sent me on a trip down memory lane. It made me think deeply about the books I have read, the films I have watched, the recordings I have heard, and the newspaper stories that have stayed with me long after I first encountered them. It made me ask myself: what changed me? What made me see life, people, and the world differently?

Change is always happening, but there are moments when truth breaks through in a way that cannot be forgotten. The horror of mankind’s deeds, captured in film, recordings, photographs, diaries, and newspapers, has left a mark on how I see the world. Sadly, these records do not seem to affect enough of us.

I think of The Diary of Anne Frank, a young girl’s words preserved from one of history’s darkest chapters. I think of the reporters of the past who wrote the truth of history even when the truth was painful. I think of the recordings and films the Nazis made to glorify their actions in Europe, and the newspaper stories that echoed the horrors done by human hands. The idea that evil would choose to keep a record of its own deeds—to brag, to boast, to prove its power—still feels surreal. Yet those records are also a glimpse into the reality and truth of history.

In the more recent past, the video of Ahmaud Arbery’s killing here near Brunswick, Georgia, changed me deeply. He was a young Black man, unarmed, out jogging in 2020 when he was pursued and killed. The fact that the moment was recorded made it impossible for me to look away. It made me realize that evil may sleep, but it is never truly dead.

I write today about the evils in history, and the records people have kept of the deeds they committed in ignorance, hatred, and pride. These are the things that have changed me and how I see the world, especially in the last ten years: racism, hate, and ignorance rising again in ways I once believed had been fought against and pushed back.

One hardly has to look far to see the change. Things I once thought society had rejected now appear openly again. Fascism, white supremacy, and racism are no longer hidden in the shadows. They can be read, watched, and heard across every form of media. The old warning, often repeated, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, feels less like a quote from history and more like a warning or something we are living through. The depth of ignorance is stifling in the world of today.

What grieves me most is that the media itself has changed. It once felt like a place where truth could be uncovered, preserved, and carried forward. Now, too often, it feels like propaganda… shaped to divide, to distract, or to make people doubt what is right in front of them. That may be the saddest thing of all… not only that evil repeats itself, but that truth itself is so easily distorted.

Still, the records remain. Diaries remain. Films remain. Photographs remain. Testimonies remain. Newspaper stories remain. They remind us of what happened, what people suffered, and what human beings are capable of when hatred is allowed to grow. They also remind us that remembering is not passive. Remembering is a responsibility.

The media that changed the way I see the world did not comfort me. It confronted me. It showed me that history is not as far away as we want to believe. It taught me that evil does not disappear simply because time passes. It waits for permission. It waits for silence. And if we are not careful, it waits for us to forget.