We’ve come a long way

2010 September 3

Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany

It was only 65 years ago that the torture, persecution and murder of millions of Jews and gypsies, homosexuals and disabled people came to an end.  Not too long ago, 42 years to be exact, that humankind realized its ignorance and ended racial discrimination and segregation in America.  And 35 years since Saigon fell, leaving thousands orphaned and millions dead.

And we are not perfect yet.  Let us not ignore nor forget the lessons from our past.

We live in an age where we have access to vast amounts of information archived from the annals of history.  So that we can look back and learn and not make the mistakes our previous generations have.

We’ve come a long way as human beings to invent the latest gadgets and state of the art technology.  How about if we also upgrade our thoughts and feelings and adapt them into the present circumstances?  Let’s not get stuck in past erroneous ideologies. Do not let the struggles and marches for freedom from our previous generations be for nothing.

We’ve come a long way in educating ourselves and learning about decency to know that wars are useless, that terror only sows more pain and anger and that there are no virgins waiting in heaven.  Heaven is here and now and it is what you make of it.

We have advanced too much in our quest for knowledge to assume too easily that all Muslims are terrorists.  To think that there are groups of people inferior or superior to us. Let us wake up and not be confronted by fears on our differences.

We are mature and intelligent enough to understand that we are all not alike.  And that’s how it should be.  We grasp the concept of different religions and faiths and we can practice all of them in a respectful manner that is not hurtful, insulting or destructive to others.

Holocaust Memorial Dachau

We have become so advanced in travel and migration.  Progressive countries have opened their borders so that if we choose to integrate into a society or a country different from ours, then we are willing to adapt to their system.  That we will have a decent understanding of the culture we are trying to be a part of, have respect for the land’s norms and values and that we can find a healthy middle ground where we can all agree. Without imposing on each other or wiping out each other’s identities.

We’ve progressed far enough that we can find love across the continents, miles away from home.  That we can marry into different races, Asians or Russians with Americans or Europeans because of love, and not for money.

We’ve travelled this far and learned this much to acquire a healthy amount of self-respect not to take advantage of social welfare programs or encourage dependency on anyone when we could actually go out and get a job. And we are responsible enough to know that we cannot keep on reproducing children without the means to support them.

We’ve come a long way.  Don’t let the sacrifices of our previous generations go to waste. Nor their follies be forgotten.

We know it is our responsibility to help one another; to build a community and take care of our children and raise them well.  These are some of the core truths of our existence. To be of service and to have compassion for those who need it.  To push forward those who are left behind.   It does take a village to raise a child. It was never meant to be every man for himself; nor make our homes so self-sufficient, self-contained and wired to the maximum that we disregard actual physical human contact. Face to face conversations.

We’ve come a long way to teach ourselves civility. And we can communicate and conduct dialogues and keep them well within the bounds of human decency.  And if one will argue that some of us just don’t know what it means to be decent, then lets work alongside each other until we all learn.  For what good will it accomplish if we keep bashing one another?

The earth we tread on, the land we build our houses upon, the acres of farms we have, none of these will remain with us.  We are all passers-by.  We stay for a while and we leave our footprints.   We all die.  And all this fighting for land and wealth are useless. But we already know that.  And still we do it.  And all the heartaches we have caused will only be passed from our children to the next generations until they are resolved.  So let’s resolve this now, lest we pass on these paranoia to our children.

When someone dies, we, the living come together for a couple of days and nights and grieve.  Then we all go on with our lives, the dead, buried and forgotten.  So the only thing we can do while we’re alive is to do good and leave a good mark. One that unites.  A remembrance that embraces and celebrates our differences.  A legacy that opens our hearts and makes for a meaningful existence.  The one that our sons and daughters will be proud to recall and retell someday when we have all passed away.

We’ve come a long way.  Let not our fears, prejudices and paranoia get in the way of basic human decency.

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