Arrr!

George Santayana, in The Life of Reason, wrote "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," a terse admonition which is often misquoted as "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

At first blush, the two seem synonymous. Each points out the doom inherent in not paying heed to history's errors. There is, however, a subtle difference.

The latter version's use of the word "forget" seems to imply an unfortunate lapse of memory, while the original mandates an essential and urgent obligation, stated in the negative, that we take heed of history's mistakes in order to prevent their duplication.

We take great pains to remember. We build memorials in the places where tragedy has occurred. We create history books to describe the hardship experienced by those who lived through it. We incorporate the lessons taught by the past in our schools.

Notwithstanding all we do, however, many of the events we attempt to memorialize seem dry and unreal, mere facts to be recited in trivia games and history papers.

It takes art to make people live the experience. Witness Kseniya Simonova, a Ukranian artist who appeared as a contestant on Ukraine's Got Talent, of all places, and memorialized the horrors of the German invasion and occupation of the Ukraine during World War II.

This is unforgettable. Best viewed full screen.
EDIT: The caption at the end translates as "You'll always be with us."