Sergio and Lars: A Patriot's Quest

The old man stood in the middle of the street, his eyes closed and his voice raised.

“Are we not men? Are we not the sons of men? Are we not...” he paused, opened his eyes and scanned the crowd before him. He held up his hand and no one made a sound. “Yes, my friends, I’m talking about a nation that is weak-kneed and spineless, a nation that refuses to stand up for itself; a nation that once was great and now, with each passing day, is less so. A nation that has been stripped of its pride by those who have no right – NO RIGHT! – to take it away from us!”

The crowd roared with approval.

“Men of Germany! We are not just anyone. We are German! The greatest nation on earth! Our history is filled with stories of courage, bravery, honor and selflessness. We marched against the French Empire in 1871 and defeated them at last at Sedan. We marched again against the French in 1940 and defeated them at last at Dunkirk. And now...” he paused again and looked out over the crowd. His eyes seemed to move from one person to another as if he were looking for someone in particular. “Now we must be strong again! When our own people turn against us, when they cross into our country illegally, when our government fails to protect its citizens...”

There was another roar from the crowd but this time there was an angry edge to it. The crowd pressed forward as if trying to reach the stage where the old man stood above them on a three-foot podium. He waited until they quieted down before continuing: “Yes, gather together everyone! There is strength in numbers! Do you feel it? Do you feel your blood begin to boil as if it wants to burst forth from your veins? Do you feel your hands form fists at your sides? Do you want to punch something? Do you want to hurt someone? Well do it then! Let it all out because I feel it too! But don't let it dissipate like so much steam – let it fuel your anger! Let it send you out into the streets until every illegal is caught and sent back across the border where they belong! Let us show our government that they can no longer turn their backs on us while they cower behind closed doors in Berlin while their precious parliament burns around them!"

The crowd erupted again into a frenzy of shouts and chants until finally subsiding enough for the old man's voice to carry over them like a thunderclap: “Tonight we burn down their houses of worship!"

The chanting began again but this time with more fervor than before: "Feuer Feuer Feuer!" As they chanted they pushed down the street towards their first target: a mosque whose eight domes rose above the other buildings around it. They reached it quickly and began piling furniture onto its roof then threw in bundles of mattresses taken from nearby apartments. Soon there was too much flammable material for them to continue throwing anything else onto the roof so they moved instead to set fire to whatever was already there. Some climbed up onto neighboring roofs only to throw things off of them onto what had already been piled on top of the mosque's roof - others broke windows and threw torches inside - others broke through front doors or kicked down back doors so that they could pour gasoline directly onto carpets or curtains or dresses or prayer mats - some broke into shops owned by Muslims and set fire to those as well - some threw smoke bombs through windows or into hallways packed with people who panicked when they couldn't see their way outside so they stayed put - some scattered nails across roads or sidewalks so that when non-German vehicles drove over them their tires would burst or their engines would stall leaving them stranded - some simply went door-to-door offering friendship one minute only to hit whoever answered with baseball bats or crowbars or wooden stakes before setting fire to their homes - most didn't bother knocking on doors anymore but just poured gasoline through windows or took aim with rifles at whoever happened to be standing near those same windows so that even if a bullet didn't go straight through someone's head it would still ignite everything nearby leaving a wall of flame that would take days if not weeks to put out completely - some were killed by angry neighbors who were sick of seeing members of their families murdered without consequence - some were shot by police officers who had decided long ago that they weren't going home until every single Muslim had either been killed or arrested - some lost family members because they wanted revenge even though those family members had nothing whatsoever to do with any of this but did anyway because they thought maybe if they did then maybe death wouldn't find them as easily since God himself had supposedly given them permission by blessing such deeds - others prayed for God's forgiveness as punishment found them anyway because even though God blesses everything eventually God also forgives everything eventually too so these people chose not just between life and death but hell versus heaven instead and that's always worth giving up for what can never really be yours no matter how hard you try not only because you're wrong about God but also because you're wrong about yourself because after all isn't that what tonight is all about? Isn't this whole thing supposed to be about being German, sons of men who were once great?