All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
- Edmund Burke
I posted a photo of this particular chunk of stone before. Only a couple of individuals recognized what it was. What most of us see depends on what we really look at.
It sits in a small office, on a flat surface in bitten shadow. It sits near a place where work is done to keep many safe. Most don't see it. It simply sits, in dense stillness, filling the room, the dawn, the dusk, with silent voices. I don't hear the voices but I know they exist. Each morning to start the day in its shadow, warm and safe, we remember that no matter what heartache comes our way, it is nothing compared to what this piece of stone bears witness to.
Those that see it don't look at it closely. But it speaks of so much that our generation, and most of our world leaders, will never, ever fathom.
Perspective. Recognition. Redemption.
28 comments:
It weeps.
Solemnity untold.
We should never forget applies to many times and places.
Reality. Silent, but absolute and undeniable.
Would that more have the courage to face reality instead of playing their little games of power and control over shadows and words that will fade to nothingness in the span of generations.
If I had chosen a different path it would have been of history. My grandmother's family were polish immigrants. So many of my generation and the teenagers coming up have no idea at the depth of loss and struggle the world has endured. Selfish thoughts have taken the place of passionate giving. I hate that.
Dave - Amen
Lila - yes.
Kirk A (not for posting comment). Got the link for the music. Thank. I always loved the Goldberg Variations. Cheers.
I remember the same silent, poignant eloquence at a Fair Park display (Dallas) a few years ago, seeing a display of an empty Zyklon-B canister.
It spoke volumes.
I wept at Auschwitz. I can never forget the crematoria. The souls there still scream . . . if you have ears to hear them.
I was compelled to open your post before I even knew what it was, and recognized the name on the label immediately ... then compelled to weep.
This applies from the smallest daily injustice to the horrors of history. Say something. Do something.
Never again.
My wife and I visited Dachau. It was an unbelievably moving experience.
Never again.
"Oh, Jesus!"
My gut-level reaction upon seeing the photograph.
And then, like my friend Rev. Paul...
Perspective, indeed!
"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil. "
— Hannah Arendt
The brick was laid by someone who had to know what the building was for. The police and soldiers who rounded up the people knew what would happen. The jailers knew. The doctors knew. The prisoners knew.
But when can you say 'stop!' to a car that's already gone over the cliff?
We will not forget.
Once atrocities of the past are forgotten, there is perhaps a greater chance of them being repeated. The Holocaust is a prime example of what happens when a society loses its ethical compass.
(Specifically ethical, not moral, because morals are merely an average of what a society considers acceptable in their opinion, at a particular time. Opinions change - all too quickly.)
One of those who disappeared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI7v7eGDRjE
It hurts every time I listen to this record.
I have a small chunk of the Berlin Wall in my home, and it sits in my kitchen window. A small chunk of cement, a gift from an Ex. Unlabeled, it sits silently there next to a small rock I boosted from the Gettysburg battlefield, which sits next to a pebble a friend brought back to me from Kathmandu. Just a few unassuming stones - but I know what they are. I know their journey. I know how they came to me.
I would be be very aware of that rock too, Brigid.
Reminds us that this must never happen again,ever! Richard
When I was in 6th grade, I remember getting in a tussle with another student who claimed that only Jews were killed in concentration camps. My family history contains three sisters killed at Ravensbruck during its operation.
How in Hell did we let this happen
Stones from battlefields, from concentration camps. Solid reminders of the atrocities of man against man. They will last a hundred lifetimes, as their meaning MUST.
This country, this world is filled with the types of people that turn a blind eye to this, to the horrible moments of history. The wise among us collect these reminders physically or in their hearts. We will keep the flame, even while something as solid as a stone eventually wears away.
Today I have a small stone that represents caring, friendship, and love. This little trinket is on the opposite side of the spectrum from the labelled rock pictured on your post. Instead of a reminder of the dark past, it represents the hope and light of a good future, of a good outcome. This little stone is one I need to be with me today.
Yes, Yes, and Yes.
The Edmund Burke quote says it all.
I stopped reading your post after the first paragraph and looked at the picture. As soon as I saw the writing, I had a feeling I knew what it was going to mean when I googled it.
Unfortunately, my gut feeling was correct.
Then I returned to finish your narrative.
May we never forget, may we never sit idly by again.
One of the times I failed to act like a gentleman... An arab-extracted (and hypenated too no doubt) American was going on about how the holocaust never happened. I told him to make up his alleged mind. "You can't claim it never happened, then threaten to finish what Hitler started in the next breath! It's bad misuse of the English language, and real clumsy dark comedy."
He called me a fairly common American obscenity, I denied it saying that there was a reason Muslim women were forded to wear Burkah's. The fight was on.
I shouldn't have snapped at the bait when he dragged his mother into it!
Every day is a constant fight against casual evil. Sometimes we don't win. The trick is not to willingly fall into a pattern of losing.
Souvenirs like that grisly bit of concrete, serve to remind us to try not become monsters in our fight against monsters.
Reality... plain and simple...
"Every day is a constant fight against casual evil."
Which is why we do it.
I recongnized it instantly.
Nie Weider.
I too have stones from Dachau, and the Berlin Wall.
Never Again. Never.
"Reminds us that this must never happen again,ever! Richard"
It does and it will. It's inherent in human nature to do these kinds of things, and as long as a country is willing to pay for the privilege, they'll get away with it. Just look at the situation between Turkey and the Armenians. The country of Turkey is a significant ally to both the US AND ISRAEL, and they won't even admit to this day what they did to the Armenians. And even more recently, genocide has continued in Rwanda, Serbia, Tibet and other places. And it can happen right here in the USA.
The sad part is that the average American can't even consider the possibility, and as a result, is not on guard to protect against such an eventuality.
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