As were are starting to finish up Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, I am starting to get a better understanding of how it was living as a Jew in the concentration camps during the holocaust. “ What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery?” (Wiesel 66). In this passage in the book, I am getting an understanding on how the Jews faith was starting to diminish, and how they were starting to question God’s existence. I do enjoy Wiesel’s writing for this very reason: that he takes us into his thinking, and makes it as though we are there with him, questioning God’s existence also. In addition to the first quote where Wiesel was losing faith he writes later: “Where is merciful God, where is He?” someone behind me was asking. (Wiesel 64). Right now, mostly all the Jews were questioning their faith. All of them were asking the same question: How could our God be doing these things to us? Was there even a God? Today at the museum, there was a man speaking talking about how he survived the Holocaust, and how there was a man thanking God during the harsh times. The man asked him how he could be thanking God, and he said he was because he was thankful that God hadn’t made him into one of the ruthless Germans.
Learning about the Holocaust has had a great impact on me. Previously I had little knowledge of its existence, now I know of its horrific impact on our past and present. It's difficult to comprehend the suffering these people went through. Even though it's devastating to process we have to understand so that we don't make the same mistakes. Nadia Murad’s article filled me with empathy as well as anger. Our world is still infected with thriving hatred, people are truly suffering. As citizens of a free country, we must take action, support survivors and give them justice. We need to stop squabbling over the small things and fight for human rights.
I agree with everything you have said and find it really interesting how you remembered your experience at the holocaust museum and used it in your blog. I am glad this book means as much to you as it does for me. The only thing I think you should add is specifying that it is not just any museum but the holocaust museum.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post Dylan. Although I was a little confused what theme you are trying to convey. It looks like your theme is loss and gain of faith or just faith by itself. But if that was to be your theme I think you did great job.
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