Is there no one left to speak out? (Updated from 4/26/2014)

This heap of ashes and bones is the debris from one day's killing of German prisoners by 88 troopers in the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar in Germany, shown on April 25, 1945.

When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out.

--  Martin Niemoller

I'm still not so sure there's anything more you can add to this to understand the dangers we still face today.  We, all of us, have learned nothing from World War II except how to ignore the lesson of it.  We ignore this horror because it was so, well, horrible.  There are some who still deny it ever happened.  The memory of these events is not easy to erase for those that endured them, why should it be easy for the next generations if we have not learned a thing from those that died.

"We have to remember, always, but it's never easy."

-- Alberto Israel, Auschwitz survivor

There is no better way to remember than to constantly voice that which we know.  We have passed on our histories by word of mouth since the beginning of language, why do we find it so difficult to accurately pass down history now?  Political correctness?  PC is a way of twisting facts to meet what the people want to hear, not what they need to hear.  What people wanted to hear is what facilitated the Holocaust, to begin with.  

We must listen to the survivors of horror.  We must listen to the words of those that fight and die, those who were gassed, those who were cremated, and the children that watched and survived.  We must document these facts for posterity before we lose these precious survivors to the march of time.  We must learn from them the lessons we need so desperately to move forward, find peace, and survive this new, ever-changing world.

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

-- Elie Wiesel, Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald survivor

We don't teach history today like we did when I was a child.  Even then the truth was muted by politics and race.  When we don't teach our young the truth we do them a devastating disservice.  We give them a ticking bomb and no tools to disarm it.  We try to convince ourselves that this is for the best, but then we look around and see what our ignorance has done to the world, and to the country around us.

"Today I see that when there is a disaster, they send people to a psychiatrist or a psychologist. We had to work out our own problems. As parents, we were overprotective to our children. My eldest daughter was accepted at an Ivy League college, but I was afraid to let her go away from home to school. We were afraid to let our children know too much about our past."

Eva Galler, death train escapee, and survivor

We, in the United States, are tired of being the "police force" for the world.  But we must ask ourselves, if not us, who?  Who will take over this thankless mantle of peacekeeper, the inept politicians that populate the United Nations?  They play the game of current politics by drawing meaningless lines in the sand.  Today we see them sending relief to battle-torn areas only to find the relief went to the aggressor and not the hapless victims.  We are America, for better or worse, and we have nothing to be ashamed of as long as we are serious and united in our endeavors.  

"Some mornings I wake up and I am so worn out I cannot go to work. I am free but I am still in the concentration camp. You go through it again and again. Whenever I hear singing, God Bless America, I have to repeat several times: God bless America. That's freedom. Nobody is going to bother me here anymore."

Joseph Sher, Cieszanow labor camp survivor

What we do should make us proud, but our patriotism is failing due to poor and inept leadership, not because of who we are.  We will always be Americans, at least until we're not, and that should make us think.

God bless us all, and God bless the victims of the Holocaust.

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either view any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

I fervently hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and, finally, a senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Western Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research.

Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony: tolerantpastor@gmail.com