I just want to say that I've been in Germany for a few weeks now and one thing I've noticed, one thing that constantly presents itself in my everyday life, is the consequences of a World War. Cities were bombed, buildings were destroyed, families torn apart. People were killed because someone decided to make them subhuman. All of a sudden, one part of the human race meant less than another part. It was okay to kill people because they were different. It was okay to bomb cities and rape women. Even today, several decades after the Second World War, things are still being put back together in Europe. Buildings that were once exceptional in their architecture now have a slab of roof because the building was bombed so severely that people needed a quick fix and never bothered to go back and redo it. There are plaques EVERYWHERE reminding people of the horrific actions that happened there- and by there I mean everywhere. Where modern houses stand, a plaque lies near the doorstep reminding the world that a family used to live here; a family that was ripped from the seams and destroyed because of a religion, a belief, a skin color. It's been decades. DECADES. And these cities are still not 100% fixed. There are remnants everywhere of the evil actions of many. I sit and I ponder these things late at night. These small reminders haunt me, and others who live in these cities, and remind me to be conscious of my actions. They remind me to be conscious of how I treat people. How I judge people.
I now look to our world today and I'm terrified. I wake up every morning to "X amount of deaths in Y caused by Z" and every morning I'm shocked. I'm distressed. And most of all I'm tired. I'm tired of hearing about death. I'm tired of hearing people degrade others because of a color of skin, a sexual preference, a belief system, or a political ideal. It saddens me to see that for a world that has gone through so many obstacles, it's almost as if we haven't learned. Political figures speak to an entire congregation of people and diminish a group of people to a stereotype, and the congregation cheers in approval. We are not in a place to judge others for their beliefs. It's not the Christian thing to do. Its not the Catholic thing to do. It's not the Muslim thing to do. It's not the Buddhist thing to do. It's not the Atheist thing to do. It's not the sound-moral,-good-person-who-doesn't-have-a-specifically-labeled-belief-system thing to do. Where are we headed as a people? How many more people have to die for someone to wake up and realize this isn't right? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? This isn't just about a presidential election, or a police officer, or even terrorism. This is about each and every person in this world. Do you wake up every day and treat someone with the respect you would like to be treated with? Do you try to make this world a little better every day? Or do you judge someone based on a first glance? Do you value one race over another?
My professor told me an interesting concept held dear in Judaism: one life is no more important than another. If you harm one life, it's as if you are harming all of humanity. If you save one life, it's as if you are saving all of humanity. He got choked up when he recited this concept, and I felt the same way hearing it. I can't fix the world, and I can't change everyone's ideas about politics and morals. But, if I save someone everyday, even in some small, insignificant way, it's as if I'm saving humanity. Every day. And that is something that I can handle when I lay my head down to sleep every night.
Think about how you treat the people around you. Think about the plaques that lie in front of houses with the names of dead families on them. We can't fix the world in one night, but you can certainly start to work on yourself... And that, in my opinion, is a step in the right direction. It's also the only hope we can have for humanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment