Night, What is it? Why is it so emotional?

[NavySeals91]

I recently started reading Night by Elie Wiesel as of 11:30 last night. I read the preface then the foward and I had to stop at that time. The book is so full of emotion and sorrow. It is of magnitude we have never experienced, and should never experience. We can only hope God does not allow something like this to happen ever again. All pain and trivial problems we have went through does not compare to that of the Holocaust. I am posting this solely because people should become aware of what happened and the true evil Nazis posed. This should never be erased from history and for people to deny its existence is to deny their very own. For those people: They can live in their worlds where aliens are gods and created us and where Kennedy was shot from the grassy nole, and Elvis who is alive and well chilling with Tupac, Biggie Smalls, and MalcolmX. To all else, the following clouded my mind with sorrow and empathy bringing tears to my eyes.

I remember that night, the most horrendous of my life
"...Eliezer, my son come here..I want to tell you something...Only to you... COme, don't leave me alone...Eliezer..."
I heard his voice, grasped the meaning of his words and the tragic dimension of the moment, yet I did not move.
It had been his las wish to have me next to him in his agony, at the moment when his soul was tearing itself from his lacerated body-- yet I did not let him have his wish.
I was afraid.
Afraid of the blows.
That was why I remained deaf to his cries.
...
"Well?" The SS had flown into a rage and was striking my father on the head:"Be quiet, old man! Be quiet!"
My father no longer felt the club's blows; I did. And yet I did not react. I let the SS beat my father, I left him alone in the clutches of death.
Worse:I was angry with him from having been so noisy, for having cried, for provoking the wrath of the SS.

"Eliezer! Eliezer! Come, don't leave me alone..."

His voice had reached me form so far away, from so close. But I had not moved.
I shall never forgive myself.

Nor shall I ever forgive the world for having pushed me against the wall, for having turned me into a stranger, for having awakened in me the basest, most primitive instincts.

His last word had been my name. A summons. And I had not responded.

 

[BidNo]

You are right. I will never forget nor let my children do so. Yet I wonder how well we have really learned when the world is so slow to respond to events such as Bosnia or Sudan. Or even the preventable diseases and hunger now ravaging Africa.

BidNo

 

[WhoDatDog]

It is beyond evil. It also happens all of the time in human history. In fact, the most prosperous country in the history of the world was built on the backs of black people. Every single person who is white in the United States benefits from that inhumane treatment that was very recent...myself included.

It will never go away, either. It is all about protecting resources. Once in a while a group of people in control will go overboard to protect it's resources or further it's beliefs. The Holocaust is one of the most publicized partly because many of it's survivor's found a voice that allowed the story to get out. The story of Slavery should be told a lot more as it was just as inhumane. Most people don't want to be confronted with that reality though.

All suffering is horrible and deserves its own revenge.

 

[Ian]

quite touching discussion going on here. I agree with what you are saying that history should be told just as it is since facts remain they are. Without forgetting that nobody can deny events in history that happened. Still the world can do more about the worst humanitarian disaster happening in Darfur Sudan. I think once again in history the world has turned a blind eye to a traumatized and suffering people as it happened in Rwanda in early 90s. As the West we can do something to help such people thru donations.
that's my opinion!!

 

[copper]

Is there any downloadable format?

I'd love to read this.

 

[VisualDigits]

evil is evil, it's been there with the human race since the beginning and it's not likely to go away anytime soon. People should not try to understand evil because it's beyond our comprehension. All evil acts are the same whether it is the Holocaust or other genocides. Let's just hope we won't face such nightmares in our lifespan.

 

[dodo1]

Is there any downloadable format?

I'd love to read this.

I don't know of any legal downloadable version, but you can buy it at Amazon.com, of course.

 

[Duckinla]

I think evil exists because good people have no stomach for the actions required to defeat it. So long as it's just numbers being killed (not names) and poses no current threat to us, we aren't able to truly believe it. We think it's bad, but we certainly wouldn't want to go through the violence, bloodshed and casualties required to fight evil.

Your donations to Africa will do no real good. Fighting symptoms only makes the problem stronger in the long run. If you feed starving people without fixing the food shortage, you will have twice as many starving people in 10 years. If you treat AIDS symptoms without solving the transmission problems, you will have twice as many AIDS patents in 5 years. If you donate money without replacing evil governments... you will have wealthier evil governments.