Always do right.
It is time to speak of the unspeakable horror of The
Holocaust, it is always time to speak of those peculiar atrocities committed
against groups of people who had been labeled as not people, of those extreme
acts of cruelty performed by those who believed themselves to be good people
dedicated to making the world a better place by exterminating, en masse, so many other good people.
Never forget that human beings are capable of being so wrong
and so terrible to one another.
Never forget.
Repeat the story of The Holocaust, so that it is not forgotten,
so that it is not reenacted, so that The Holocaust is never repeated.
Seek out the stories that exist today, the stories that do
and the ones that do not make the news. Where are there horrors that indicate a
new The Holocaust is possible, is likely, is happening now next door, is on our
doorstep, is happening now and right here, is being perpetrated by
well-meaning, upstanding, good citizens who truly believe that they are doing
what is right? Bad-deed-doing people who are either unaware or unconcerned that
they are doing evil are possibly even... us. You. Me.
Examine society. Examine oneself. Examine neighbors,
friends, family, religions, beliefs, ideas, philosophies, cultural norms, laws,
familiar practices.
What are we doing? Are we always doing what is right? How do
we know?
I truly believe that I live in a society which is dedicated
to always doing right and actually succeeds, to the best of its ability, in
making the world a better place for all.
Always do right.
Never forget The Holocaust, nor those who were enticed or
coerced into performing each one of the independently heinous acts. Those real
people acted as they did just like all people do, because the course of action
they took "seemed like a good idea at the time" or because the
alternative course of action was seen to be worse. This is not unlike so many
other activities human.
The Holocaust is the one worst thing that history has, to
date, ever recorded. The people who committed these atrocities followed what
seemed to them like a normal course of human activity. Doing what each one of
them did seemed, to each one of those real people, like making a choice and
choosing the best possible alternative at the time. Many had never examined
whether or not their society was committed to doing right. Many people might
have felt they were stuck living within the society that perpetrated The
Holocaust, that they had no alternative way to live their lives, even if they
wanted to.
Never forget that it was real people who carried out the
individual acts which echo through our collective psyche and scream "Never
again!"
You are a real person. Always do right.
Never forget that even good people who believe they are
doing right could be very, very wrong.