Tomorrow is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Given that there has been a lot of noise lately from those who would deny that particular darkness in our collective history, and that, despite the lessons of the past, we still stand idly by while our brothers and sisters suffer, I think it’s important to recognize this day of remembrance. I wish that we would all stop more often to think about the implications of where we’ve been and of where we are, and of where our actions (or, perhaps more properly, our inactions) lead us, but I’ll settle for calling attention to it for just one day.
I watch as the stunning and altogether casual lack of simple empathy that I observe in my everyday life ripples out into the world. We give ourselves false comfort in order to cope with the enormity of the horrors we create: there’s nothing we can do to change the past; there’s nothing that *I* can do to help someone suffering in a distant African nation; I’m not contributing to the problem. We do this without realizing that everything we do has consequences. A simple kindness can have a profound reach, and I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for the power that we hold by simply recognizing each other’s humanity.
There’s a saying that’s popular among the yoga community and I’m sorry, but I can’t attribute it for you; I really don’t know exactly where it comes from, or even if I’m quoting it correctly here. It goes something like this:
Each of us holds a piece of the Universe within ourselves. When I am in that place in me and you are in that place in you, we are the same being.
We will never find peace until we can learn to truly understand that we are the same being.
You know, I was (am) aware there are those who deny the Holocaust happened (like the Prez of Iran, and Mel Gibson’s dad–and parbly Mel too). It came upon me while reading your post that the people who actually murdered all those Jews and others (the Germans), do not, as a nation, deny that it happened. In other words, those with little access to the truth hold views contrary to those who are in the best position to know it. Hmmmm. Of course, I understand all Holocaust denial is political (and I include religious views as political, they are, no question about it).
My mother is a survivor. When I traveled across Europe in the early 90s, I often met German college students wherever - in Italy, Greece, Denmark - I happened to be. I wore a prominent star of David in those days and I often found myself in uncomfortable conversation with some such Germans. One in particular, and I don’t remember her name, was traveling to Israel via Greece and when we sat together in Milan, explained that the Holocaust was an ever-present, oppressive reality among her generation. Some of her friends, she told me, pretended it had not happened and that their parents and relatives hadn’t been involved. But she felt strongly that she must do something to show that some of her generation were willing to face the reality of the Holocaust and to do what they could. She was traveling to live and work on a Kibbutz, to visit Yad Vachem and to be brave. I admired her so much.
Growing up in Canada, I was aware of a notorious Holocaust denier, Ernst Zundel, a Holocaust denier who is now in Geman custody (he was born there and emigrated to Canada in the 50s) after being convicted and tossed out of Canada for hate propaganda.
How any sane person could deny the Holocaust is beyond me.
I believe you may be referring to the ancient Sanskrit blessing “Namaste”. Loosely translated it means:
I HONOR THE PLACE WITHIN YOU WHERE THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE RESIDES. I HONOR THE PLACE WITHIN YOU OF LOVE AND LIGHT, OF PEACE AND TRUTH. I HONOR THE PLACE WITHIN YOU WHERE, WHEN YOU ARE IN THAT PLACE IN YOU AND I AM IN THAT PLACE IN ME,THERE IS ONLY ONE OF US.
Yep, that’s it. I KNEW it was Namaste, but I wasn’t sure what the translation was, exactly. I was pretty close.
I’ve taken to closing my yoga classes with a little bit about how, depite our wonderous and varied differences, we are all really the same. When we can recognize one another’s humanity, we are fully human ourselves. My hope is that some of them will think of that after they leave the class, and that a little bit of good can ripple out because of it.