Israel observes Holocaust Day

[oberliner]

Israel is observing Holocaust Remembrance Day, the annual commemoration of the deaths of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis during the second world war.

Ceremonies began at sundown on Wednesday at Vad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial and research centre in Jerusalem.

Hundreds of holocaust survivors and other Israelis attended the evening that comprised speeches, prayers and music.

Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, spoke to the crowd and said that the country would never allow a Jewish genocide to occur again.

"We will never forget, we will never hide and we will never stop asking ourselves every morning what we must do to prevent what happened to ever repeat itself."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F4DC53BB-C877-4D13-9162-0EE877945DE0.htm

I wonder if this piece is posted on the Arabic version of Al-Jazeera as well.

[subsuelo]

1. Six million.

Not Sixty thousand, or Six hundred-thousand. Which alone would be horrific numbers. Six. Million. What words can possibly express how wrong, how unthinkable. Six Million People. How to comprehend it? I still can't comprehend. My mind can't even wrap around that number. Not when we are talking murdered people. Boys, girls, women, men, elderly, handicapped, young and old.

So how can we prevent something like this from ever repeating itself? We as humans still have so much soul searching to do. We have to travel to the depths. And I'm not talking from any particular religious viewpoint here. I believe we have got to work on removing hatred, vengeance, anger and fear from our lives and start replacing those with love, compassion, forgiveness and understanding.

In addition, to suggest a rule as something we can actually apply to life on earth, I think we would do well to start acknowledging that killing is wrong. All killing is wrong. In all situations. The answer to any problem is not killing someone. What does it ever solve? Even if they are bad people. Even if they have killed and have committed horrific acts. The very idea itself of killing as a matter of punishment or of problem solving, should be viewed as wrong. That's my two cents. I fully acknowledge that I cannot claim to have any, all, or even some of the answers. Just expressing how I see it though.

Six million people. Makes me ashamed to be a member of the same race capable of such evil. We as humans have to do better.

[oberliner]

2. Amen

Very well said.

[notfullofit]

3. Perfect! nt

[LeftishBrit]

4. Well said.

Sometimes it is hard to comprehend such evil and such tragedy. We must all be vigilant against ever letting these darkest sides of human nature rule.