Remembering the Past by Changing the Future

International Holocaust Remembrance Day... I don't think I can let this one pass without a post, albeit a short one.  I've studied the Holocaust in depth for the past eleven years.  I am sometimes a little taken aback at how much study of this event has shaped the person I am... But then I wonder how much the person I am has been the root of my interest. The old chicken before the egg question, if you will. I had a conversation with a few fellow Holocaust teachers once about the fact that so many of us are very deeply religious Evangelical Christians. We discussed the fact that our interest in the Holocaust probably springs from our faith. I think that is very likely. 

However, I feel like my years of Holocaust study have made me into a better person than I was before or would be without it. It is not exactly a pleasurable change, but I'm not sure the best changes ever are. I certainly am more aware of those around me and more sensitive to those who have been marginalized or discriminated against. I think my parenting has been shaped by this, as I often hear myself say to the girls when they criticize someone, "You don't know what he/she deals with at home." I believe that my connection to Royal Family is heavily impacted by my Holocaust knowledge and study... it is a concrete opportunity to influence lives that have been damaged but not destroyed by evil and sin. 

I have heard a quote several times recently and I'm not sure where it originated, but I love it. 

Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it. But I'm afraid He would ask me the same question.

My faith and my passion for the Holocaust are inextricably linked. I don't think a Christian could study the events of the 1930's and 40's in Europe and not question what his/her own action would have been. The connection between that time in history and the treatment of humanity to today is obvious to anyone, from a child reading Terrible Things to a teenager in my Holocaust Lit class to a senior adult in the elective I taught at my church. 

In regard to Holocaust remembrance and education, I think it's essential. I hope to always teach this class to teens and always create situations in which people memorialize the victims of the Holocaust. However, it didn't end in 1945... genocide didn't end, prejudice didn't end, and ill treatment of human beings one to another didn't end. As the years have gone by, my class has expanded more and more to include the study of other genocides and real life application of the lessons learned from the Holocaust. 

I've come around in recent years to the belief that the best form of remembrance is changing the future. To the six million Jews and five million others who died... We looked away... the world, so wrapped up in itself in the mid-twentieth century, forgot to care about you.  We forgot to speak up for you. And unfortunately, we have looked away so many times since... been too busy with our own lives to care about others. We are still silent far too often. 

But to the eleven million, I make this vow on this day: I will stare into the face of injustice and human rights violations... I will purposely make time in my life to reach out and work. I will remember you by helping them. And I will speak... as often and to as many as will listen. And the beauty of my situation is that I know for a fact that I am not standing alone because the future is sitting in front of me every day. And they, too, are ready.