The Past Illuminates the Future

The hatred in this world is sometimes too much to bear, but the darker it gets, the more light to share. People walk along the streets most everyday of their lives, experiencing other cultures and seeing through different eyes. They see humans with a range of ethnicities and realize that the world is full of complexities. People are discriminated for their race or their background, as the Jews were so harshly treated during that bleak time, the Holocaust, an event which has a memory that should never be lost. The hopes and faith of so many of that population resonate inside me as I live in this great nation. Anti-Semitism, an abhorrent word, meaning discrimination towards Jews for where they pray near the steeple, or what they may look like or sound like or say. Why were their lives the price to pay? They met their demise for no reason but pure hatred from the unwise. Others are mistreated due to the prejudice of many, even today, after the dismay that the genocide caused. Let us pause and realize that anti-Semitism has no place, in our hearts or our minds. We should conclude from these horrific acts of that infamous time, that we should accept others with care and pray for them each night that they won’t receive a scare, from those members of society who don’t feel it necessary to make it their obligation, to assist fellow inhabitants of all nations. A man named Paul Molnar shared with me, through his speech I felt a call to accept others no matter the circumstances. Through the things he survived and the horrors he saw, instead of hating people for what they did he wanted us to love. Several generations gathered in a room to hear of the doom of some and the trials Paul faced, the ghosts of the past with him forever. The frustration and devastation of countless lost generations. His small flame of hope went up in smoke so many years ago, when he lost his entire family, to live detached from the ones he cherished, who had so suddenly perished. He was the last humble branch on his family tree. Through it all he still shares with anyone who will receive his story, so we won’t forget or dismiss an event such as this. The victims and survivors of these tragic events should know that they are appreciated and remembered by countless members of humanity, and that through their pain and heartbreak I, like a great deal of others, have a new sense of gratitude for the life I have. When anyone is in their darkest hour, they should remember, as Anne Frank declared clearly, “I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” Kind hearts and precious souls that may need assistance, from a stranger unknown, to get by and keep their persistence. Never forget. In the darkest moments great light shines the brightest.