Swing to the Left or to the Right: A Reflection on Swing Kids We are part of each other’s history. Everything we do or say affects not only our lives but also the lives of others because history is a communal experience. We have a choice on how to respond to all that is happening around us. History can either bind us or set us free. We are constantly shaping and reshaping ourselves, by everything we do and do not do, in a world where there is no real neutrality. We live in a turbulent world today whether we’d like to admit it or not. There are countries still in war with each other, dropping chemical gases or bombs at each other. There are countries that are killing off its own citizens and are getting away with it just because they were just “cleaning” their country. There are also countries that are driving out some of its citizens just because they are of different race and are supposedly a threat to the country’s economy. These are not new scenes. We have seen these all too often enough in the past that we know what might happen, but some just choose to ignore them. The movie Swing Kids (1993), shows how history can affect ones life and vice versa. It tells the story of Peter Muller who is caught in a complicated situation of being a Hitler Jugend by day and Swing Kid by night during pre-World War II. In the past, people have created imaginary divisions between themselves. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we have segregated each other into categories – race, class,