Never Forget

The day of the Holocaust remembrance was the 10th of April this year, I believe.  As the years spread us apart from those horrific days, it is sad to see some of our youth not giving a care whatsoever.  I guess it's because it happened so long ago for them, and being Christian, something such as the Holocaust could never happen to them.
Living in San Francisco is great because we are such a diverse city, but yet there is hatred amongst various ethnic groups.  From gang violence to hate crimes.  I see the kids I teach how "safe" they feel in the Bay Area, but what happens once they leave to other states or countries where diversity is not the norm?
Events such as Holocaust Remembrance Day must be "celebrated" in our schools and in our families.  Teachers educate and allow them to research and learn what happened in those days- not only to the Jews, but to those righteous enough to stand up to the Nazis; to the Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, Catholic religious, etc.  The evil seeds Hitler planted sprout today as vicious weeds trying to destroy "the good in humanity."

Rwanda, the Sudan, the Killing Fields of Pol Pot...different times and people, but with the same goal- genocide; get rid of those who have "caused our problems."

Sometimes I wonder if extraterrestrials do exist and they are observers of what transpires on this blue planet.  Are they horrified?  Do they wonder why our species destroys its own kind?

Yet, no matter how ugly those times were, let us remember and celebrate Life...the survivors share their stories of heroism and courage; truly role models for our youth yearning to find out what is right.  Life is so precious that everyone deserves to experience it and not become a victim because of some idiot's ill conceived ideas about how our nations should exist.

Have you ever been picked on or bullied because of how you look or act?  If so, you've experienced the "Yellow Star."  God bless all victims, survivors and children!

Tolerance

Yom Hashoah was remembered this week.  A day set aside to remember the victims of the Nazi genocide.  And a day to use as a learning moment.  My 8th grade social studies class is a wonderful group of students who might not have a care in the world.  Sure, with the current financial situation our nation is facing, some of these kids' parents are facing troubles.  But how to teach and tell about a situation that occurred over 60 years ago?  The Holocaust.  To some kids today it is a word, something in the history books.  How to impress on these young minds that holocausts are still happening in the world and that the victims are not just adults, but children of their ages and younger.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is perhaps one of the best and stirring celluloid telling of a Holocaust drama involving children.  It is not too graphic and the visuals are thought provoking.  Watching this film in social studies class is wonderful in that watching the students' reactions are priceless.  With a series of questions that will be answered in small group discussions, questions are already being asked.  Then, each student will have a small project based on the film- whether a poem or something artistic- to demonstrate an understanding of tolerance, friendship, prejudice and how to change the world into that better place each generation hopes for.  As the old saying goes, if we forget such atrocities, we're doomed to repeat them again...and we, as a race, will have learned nothing.