The Holocaust and Our Youth

In class today a fellow student made this comment, "If the new generations are brought up with love, peace and respect for life, the hope of unity between all mankind will mean a bright future free from prejudice and strife." I totally agree, it all starts with children and how they are raised and what they are taught. As crazy as Adolph Hitler was, he was smart enough to know that as well, hence the formation of Hitler's Youth and the implementation of teaching practices that taught German kids that Jewish people were bad.

This fact really made me think about the current events of today. With the population of this planet approaching 7 billion people it is impossible to rid Earth of all political or religious extremists such as Hitler, Hussein, Bin Laden or Ahmadinejad, but we have to try. Sometimes by force, yes, but also by education. If we can teach as many youths as we can to embrace other's cultural, religious, political and personal beliefs we can say we attempted to make a difference. We have to teach them that you don't always have to agree with a person, but you should respect the fact that they might have a different opinion than you. If we don't try to educate young people, extremists will continue to pass down their extreme beliefs to the youths of their current followers.

Hitler

Saddam

Can the next one be prevented?

Why study the Holocaust?

An easy answer to this question is that the Holocaust is worth learning about so that something like it never happens again. I totally agree with that line of thinking. However, I also think that is the most important reason to learn about all facets of history. To better our lives and the lives of those around us, we must be willing to learn from our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others.

With all that said, I think there is another important reason for studying the Holocaust and other atrocities of its magnitude. By studying the Holocaust we are able to put our lives into perspective. This will probably seem like a comical example, but I will tell it anyway. A few weeks back we received over 4 inches of rain in just over 24 hours. Earlier this summer we had a bonfire patio installed at the edge of a steep hill. Five large retaining boulders were placed along the back edge of the patio to retain it. During the rain storm we lost two boulders down the hill and our patio started to sink due to a major washout. This all happened while I was reading All But My Life. At first I was extremely upset about what had happened, but I couldn't help but relate my situation to Gerda's. The situations obviously didn't compare and I soon realized how much young Gerda would have loved to be dealing with a lost boulder or two instead of her own predicament. I soon realized that things could be a lot worse in life.

So let the Holocaust serve as a reminder about how inhumane political extremists can influence a nation into an era of genocide, but let it also be a tool used to show us how to treat others and how to put our own lives into perspective. Think about the victims of the Holocaust the next time your car breaks down or the next time you are rude to someone else. The next time you are angry, stop and think about the Holocaust and ask yourself, is this really worth getting angry about?