The World We Live In
Yesterday I was privileged enough to have a Holocaust survivor visit my class. He told us his tragic story of living in the ghettos right outside of Warsaw, Poland, and living on the run for years hiding in attics and even forests during the Polish winter. His story was a lot for me to process especially because all of the despair and confusion started at 8 years old for him. He said 8 years old was when he became an adult; there were no children during the Holocaust. He couldn't understand why all of this happened to him based on one fact alone: that he was born to a Jewish mother by chance. Throughout all of the heart wrenching details of his story, I couldn't help but be deeply troubled by how families suffer under regimes like this mainly because of greed (wealth & power) and control. Anti Semitism, racism, any other form of hatred based on characteristics you cannot change are woven into the fabric of countries, and instilled into the people so they can be controlled. These selfish, sociopathic leaders have used and continue to use people as pawns in their own sick game of genocide. There's no reason to hate someone for their color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc. unless you are conditioned to. These things don't matter; I specifically felt this when I looked into our guest speaker's eyes and saw the humanity in them. The most important thing I took from his talk was this. Very few in the so-called "civilized, educated, well manicured and cultured" country of Germany protested what Hitler was executing across Europe. There were some glimmers of hope and justice, but for the most part no one stood up for the Jews. This is the problem with implicit prejudices that can plague almost an entire nation. You may say you're not overtly anti-Semitic or racist, but if you idly stand by while groups of people are defenselessly being murdered, or try to rationalize why their death could have been excusable, what does this say about you? Push yourself to look deep within your mind and challenge your own prejudices. It's ugly, but we've all been taught to view certain people in certain ways. Listen to people's stories, and just hear them out as another human being. If you're bothered by somebody's different way of life, ask yourself why and find what is lacking in you to want to control someone else's destiny so badly. Or in some cases, help yourself to realize that some people's misfortune of being born into the underclass of society subjugates them to systems of psychological torment (i.e. Blacks in America). This projects the illusion that their "brutish" behavior is simply because they are less-than, when in actuality the State is who designed their fate to be the most hated, most feared, most misunderstood group in society. Unfortunately, until we deal with the real, ugly parts of prejudice and racism, the world will not be able to rid itself of these atrocities. We need to be honest for us to start un-conditioning ourselves, or we will perpetuate this cycle of suffering. I never want another human to have to go through what this man had to go through as a child in 1942, but sadly this is what is happening all across the world manifesting in various forms. My heart feels for these people on another level, and all I can do is keep searching for answers in books and those who have come before me.
