Opinion

What does a swastika tell us?

What was the meaning behind that giant swastika drawn on a Greenwich street during a night of apparent teenage mischief Saturday night?

Did the person or persons who put it there understand what they were doing?

Until those responsible are caught, if they ever are, it will be impossible to know.

We hope that the person(s) who drew the symbol did not do it with the actual hate for which the swastika stands. We hope -- but cannot ignore the fact that the swastika was drawn during the Jewish High Holy Days.

Another possibility is that it was drawn with nothing more than a vague sense of rebellion, of "being bad," without an actual appreciation for the symbol's history. That would seem to be more consistent with other reported acts performed by teenagers in the area that night.

Clearly the first scenario would be worse, but the second isn't something we could wave off. It would mean some of our young people don't know enough about history, for sure. But it could also be an indicator of how irresponsible we've become in our political debate.

It's become commonplace for the more partisan among us to invoke the specter of the Nazis to demean political foes. Images of George W. Bush with a Hitler mustache could be seen at protests during his administration, which was often derided using Nazi terminology.

The same is true of Barack Obama. It's not difficult to find images of him portrayed as Hitler. Turn on talk radio almost any day and you'll hear about Obama's brown shirts coming to get you.

How are kids these days supposed to appreciate the utter depravity of the Nazis when members of Congress speak at rallies at which people hold up posters of dead Holocaust victims, comparing what was done to them to the president's health care reform package?

The irresponsibility prevalent in our public discourse today could have many consequences. The eventual inability to appreciate true evil -- as opposed to those with whom we simply disagree -- could become one of them.

What was the meaning behind that giant swastika drawn on a Greenwich street Saturday night? We don't know.

But it should spur adults to consider what we're not teaching -- and what we are teaching -- our children.