HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

 SJR-032HOLOCAUST REMEBRENCE RESOLUTION  This morning we heard the Holocaust Awareness resolution in the House of Representatives.  Each year the resolution brings up feelings of what it must have been like for those who were involved.  We have survivors that come and their stories are told. They are moving, both sad and happy, and give us the realization that life can change so very quickly for us.   There were over SIX MILLION Jewish people murdered along with gypsies and homosexuals. The idea behind this has perplexed most everyone in the world for over seventy years.  Today we had testimony of those who wondered how a people like the Germans who had given so much to the world could have ever done this.  They summed it up in simple terms.  Paraphrased quote “They came and took the Rich and I wasn’t rich so I didn’t worry, they came and took the Trouble makers, and I was not one of them, they came and took my neighbor and I again was not one of them, then they came and took me and no one was left to do anything at all” I did not do justice to this quote, but the gist can be understood.  Some testified that their parents had escaped the horrors to come, with the help of non Jewish people and some spoke of the millions lost and the atrocities that were committed.    The whole time I sat there thinking of the things that were being said. One Representative said something that frightened me so much that I am writing this.  She started off by saying the phrase that has been used for remembering the Holocaust, “Never Forget”.  She said that we are forgetting.  We as Americans gathered the Japanese Americans during WWII, and we treated the Muslims in America horribly after 9/11.  We have forgotten.  She went on to say that this started with horribly high unemployment, high inflation, high levels of poverty, and embarrassingly low estimation of their national image.  They needed to blame someone for their state as a Nation. They needed a scapegoat. These were contributing factors. What scared me so much was the similarity to our country today.  By estimations we, we have high unemployment,  high inflation, high levels of poverty, and many are embarrassed by the worlds view of our country, our President included as one who is embarrassed.  Who is our scapegoat? Is it the 1%ers?  Who are we blaming for the state of our country?  We must learn from our history. We must not forget. We must remember!     The atrocities that have been committed to the Jewish people over the eons are continuing. We haven’t learned.  In the Seventies, I remember my family and many others putting their Christmas trees in the back room and putting menorahs in the front windows because the anti Semitism was so horrible. That was just a few years ago.  It is time we say “always remember” because remembering is putting something in the forefront of your memory, verses simply not forgetting. This could happen in any country. It is happening in many third world countries, and it could happen here.  It is up to us to stop blaming a fictitious enemy and start working on bringing our country together.  What happened in WWII may not happen here in America, I pray that it does not. Either way, by remembering, we can treat each other with respect, decency, and without prejudice.      Today we remembered those who were sacrificed, those who survived, and those who lost their way.“ALWAYS REMEMBER”