| Re: Nice Things to Talk About
I understand the feelings and concerns of all of you who advocate a strong defence policy. Prevention is better than cure.
I am one of those people who has a failing to appreciate that others may not be able to read my mind when I am mulling things over. My wife often has to point this out to me; that I have to articulate my thoughts in order to share them. That I have to bat the ball back when she speaks.
It was for this reason that I wanted to write down my impressions of our visit to Auschwitz. The process of writing helps to form a more focused account of what I saw and felt.
Words, of course, fail. Writing is a poor substitute for seeing and feeling.
Anger at what I saw is directed towards the people who who perpetrated these acts and also towards those who seek to manipulate the events of the past for their own ends. These so-called Holocaust disbelievers want to ferment indignation and to stir up racial hatred. It is so easy to over-react to them.
As time moves on we can ask ourselves what lessons the world may draw from these events in history. Next year Auschwitz marks its 60th year as a Polish National Memorial. For a couple of years after the liberation Auschwitz served as a hospital and displacement camp for survivors. The end of 2007 marks 60 years of Auschwitz as a place of memorial and a National Monument. At the end of 2007 many survivors and families of victims will return to Auschwitz to hold memorial services to the dead. At that time Auschwitz will become a centre of media attention. It is a time when many questions will be asked about the past and its meaning.
MoMo |