In The End

    Religion, no matter if its Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism, guides us to a certain way of life and sets out our own principles, but in the end, we all bleed, we all experience hunger, and we all lose ourselves to thought.  In the end, we are all human.  In the end, our combined differences amount to a bigger picture, that being a working world where each individual has their own critical niche.  Oftentimes, we, as humans, become indifferent to others' differences.  We may act out by judging them or refusing to befriend them, but in the end, we are all still human.
    Adolphe Hitler swept through Germany persuading its people and clouding their minds with backwards science of genetic cleansing and ridding the world of all but the Aryan race.  Many joined him while others sat back and watched as their friends and fellow humans were singled out, taken away, and stripped of everything they had.  A Jewish Rabbi and Holocaust survivor once said, "In times of evil, if you are indifferent to evil, you are evil."  Hitler, his followers, and yes, even those who sat by and watched caused a heartless tragedy that we now remember as the Holocaust.
    Yesterday, Doubles Shark-Whisperer and I visited the National Holocaust Museum to remember such an evil period in history.  As you walk through the exhibit, you first experience Nazi Propaganda and how Hitler came to power.  Then you see how the Jews were singled out and often moved to ghettos.  From the ghettos, they would be moved again to concentration camps where they would work or would meet death in the gas chambers.  To me, the most memorable exhibit is the room of shoes.  Before the Jews were gassed, all of their clothing including their shoes was removed.  This room contains hundreds of shoes that reflect the heaviness of the situation.  The smell alone is enough to weigh you down.  You finish the exhibit by watching and listening to survivor's accounts.

Shoes

A quote from Elie Wiesel's novel "Night":

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.

Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.

Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.

Never.

    The Holocaust was a horrible time in human history that many are determined to forget and others will carry with them forever.  Religion may be one difference among human beings, but strangely enough, the golden rule, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," is common to all religions.  Here are some quotes from religious texts:

Judaism:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Islam:  "Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."
Christianity:  "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
Buddhism:  "Hurt not other with that which pains yourself."
Hinduism:  "Never do to others what would pain thyself."
Taoism:  "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain and your neighbor's loss as your own loss."

Before living by this principle, we must first ask ourselves how we would like to be treated and if that way is morally correct; after this, we must actively use this rule.  If we are truly living in the ways of our religion, then accepting other people's differences should be simple.  Sadly, judgement of others and genocide still occur, but we can do our best to fight for difference.  We can remember the past and possibly find change for the future, for even after we have been stripped of all material things and all of our worth, we are, after all, still human in the end.