By Amy Cook-Porter

Now this may sound like a rant.  I don’t like getting emails that only complain.  That don’t offer a Call to Action.  This is in reply to one that came this morning.

There is an email circulating that says in England, they are not recognizing Holocaust Remembrance Week. This is the week that falls after Passover that honors the memory of ALL those who died in the Holocaust.

Nothing I’ve seen says that this is for only the 6,000,000 Jews who were murdered. At Remembrance Services across the US, clergy from ALL religions were invited to participate. They honored the memory of the Catholics (there were many); the Jehovah Witnesses (millions), the Muslims (and there were many – remember the African campaigns) and Gypsies, as well as many who didn’t embrace any religion.

This was a horrible time. We hold these annual services to remind us! So we won’t forget the atrocities. So when there isn’t a 9/11, we remember that we are against terrorism of any sort.

Symbolically or ironically, most of the services were held yesterday, April 20, the 10th Anniversary of the Columbine Massacre; and Adolf Hitler’s birthday. (The symbolism should make you think.)

In addition, this is Earth Week. Many of us are combing both events. It’s still too cold here to plant a tree in memory of the Holocaust. So we opted to wearing paperclips this week as part of the PaperClip Program. Mine has extras on it. I am “Paying it Forward” with them. I hand out the paperclips to remind people of the following things.

* Our kids should be able to go to school without worrying about their safety. (In memory of Columbine, Virginia Tech, and all other school children)
* Adults should be able to go to family events (weddings, reunions or anything else) and not have to worry about safety. (In support of my Israeli and Pakistani friends)
* Sports team should be able to participate globally and not worry about theirs or their fan’s safety. (Munich Olympics – Pakistani soccer teams)

I also use the paperclips to open communications with people.

* With seniors – They will talk about their memories, the sacrifices, how it effected their families, and who died.
* With the baby-boomers -They talk about how it effected their families, what relatives died, and how they feel distant from it.
* And, with the young – It’s what they studied in World History.  They would rather talk about the war today, living in a military town, how schools aren’t safe and whether there will be a world to inherit.

They all put on a paperclip and add extras to share with their friends.  The paperclip gives them a place to start talking about peace and terrorism.  Being Earth Week, wearing a paperclip doesn’t seem strange – kind of a “hippie” thing; and it does help to start a dialogue.

So, here is my conclusion:  we have not learned the lessons that began 60 years ago.  I don’t care what country you live in.  Your family was affected by that war and every war before and after.  You, me, our families are like paperclips. In the box, we touch many other paperclips.  Link us together, we form changes that cross continents.

And as a final note:  both Israel and Pakistan came about after WWII – one Jewish country; one Muslim. If not, for the war, would either country have been allowed to become a nation?

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Tags: Earth Week, Holocaust Remembrance, PaperClip

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 10:07 am and is filed under Current Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.