#WeRemember

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. As we consider WWII, the rise of Nazi Germany, and the horrific atrocities that came with it, I am reminded that it was not really that long ago.
People who lived through that nightmare are still here.

Still alive and still sharing their stories.

Still wearing the numbers etched into their forearms.

Still bearing the physical and emotional scars of an experience I can barely imagine.
The holocaust is not ancient history. In the grand scheme of things, it is recent history:  so recent that it could almost be considered a current event.
We would do well to remember that every time we marginalize 'the other' we are only a few steps away from the horror that now exists only in black and white images.
That a society which justified imprisoning, murdering, and attempting to completely annihilate an entire group of people is just barely in our collective rearview mirror.

[caption id="attachment_8201" align="alignnone" width="800"] Image courtesy https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38668425[/caption]

We live a in a culture that feeds off division. A culture that works tirelessly to parcel us off into segments, to unify us against 'the other' with whom we would disagree. Against those we would villainize. Against those we would dehumanize. Against those we would be happy to be without. The horror of millions murdered en masse without cause seems unreal to us, but in reality we are always just a few steps away. Neither is Anti-Semitism merely a 20th century phenomenon. The Jewish people have faced large-scale persecution for centuries, and it continues today. We hear more and more of Jewish groups attacked simply for being Jewish. While many of us have learned the truth, it seems many still are yet to learn. This is why it is so important that We Remember. That we face the past demons of humanity and join in proclaiming that so long as we have anything to do with it, this evil will happen Never Again.