RIGHTWINGSPARKLE

Charles from You Big Mouth, You! sent me this link of his regarding Holocaust Remembrance Day. He has pictures and a letter from an American soldier from 1945.

I saw a commercial today where they were interviewing young people on the street. They were asking them what the Holocaust was. One girl said it was when the Jews celebrated like Christmas with candles and things, but it wasn't Christmas...Oh. My. God. There were a few other stupid answers but none as bad as that. Then the commercial said the 53% of teenagers did not know what the Holocaust was about. I hope to God that figure is not true.

I was around 11 or 12 when I read "Anne Frank's Diary." I cried and cried. Such a beautiful soul she was. I also remember reading "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom about the same time. That book was about a Christian family who hid Jews and then was caught and Corrie's whole family dies in the camps. She lives to tell the story. If you haven't read it, you should. It is an amazing book of faith.

Anyway, I pestered my Mom about how this could possible happen? The horror of it was just too much for me. I suppose that is where my passion for human rights and the sanctity of life began. The thought that we are not teaching this to young people is frightening to me.

The lesson of the Holocaust is that evil can creep up on us. It's footsteps are soft and hard to hear. It is upon us without us realizing it. It can also disguise itself in virtue. It can also hide it's true horror until it is too late for us to do much about it. We can also become use to evil. We can accept it and say that it is necessary. We can ignore it because it doesn't involve us, as so many did during that time. But in our hearts we know. Our conscience tugs at us like a small child that tugs at the shirt of it's mother.

Evil can wear a smile.

Let us remember those who suffered and died. Let us remember and ask ourselves, is there evil here? We honor those who died in the Holocaust by fighting evil and by not ignoring the tug our conscience gives us.

How could it have happened? Easy. It happens so easily.