remembering auschwitz

yesterday marks 60 years since the liberation of auschwitz (see here)

it's one thing to know what it was about... it's another to actually read the stories of survivors and/or actually see it for yourself (i was there for thanksgiving 2002... it was one of the saddest days of my life)... as absolutely sick to my stomach as it makes me feel to actually sit still and process the horror that it was all about, i can't imagine being one of those who are still around today to tell their 1st hand stories of being there.

my challenge to you -- actually read some of the survivor stories you'll find online linked to places like the cnn link above... and elsewhere... process what it really was about rather than just "a horrible place"... allow yourself to really feel (again?) what a horrible thing this was.

just like the inscription on the peace monument at auschwitz-birkenau "for ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity..."

may we never get so far distanced from it that we fail to recognize auschwitz for the heinous wrong it was or lessen the grief and saddness we feel for it.... and in so remembering, may our resolve be strengthened that such destruction of human life and human dignity never happen again.

may we never forget.