"It is not because I cannot explain, that you will not understand; it is because you will not understand, that I cannot explain." -Elie Wiesel
One question that everyone seems to have in regards to the Holocaust is the simple question of why. Why did this happen, why was the Holocaust aimed at the Jews, and why innocent people. The question of why, itself presents a conundrum. In asking why people are searching for a higher meaning, an answer. In searching for these meanings we are searching for understanding. Understanding is the ability to sympathize and feel, to comprehend why something is the way it is. As Elie Wiesel has pointed out however, in searching for understanding we are getting nowhere, because there is no explantion for the Holocaust. Sure we can blame Hitler's evilness, but what about the higher meaning everyone searches for, like why did God let this happen and why didn't anyone stop this.
The only way to understand is to "bare witness" and not repeat past mistakes, as Elie Wiesel has pointed out. Understanding is not something that can be achieved by glancing over a few old photographs, but by vowing to do better. Just think of what is happening at the moment in Darfur. Why are we letting this happen? We all strive to understand, yet we are not trying to do better. What have we learned? Nothing apparently. We have to do better. We have to bare witness for all those who are not here; all of those whose bodies perished amongst the flames of ovens, all of those who remain nameless, and all of those who just cannot find the words to speak. If we are searching for meaning so profusly, why are we still not understanding and repeating pasts mistakes. Darfur is real and proves that we still do not understand.
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