"If I had been there I would have..."

About ten years ago I visited the national holocaust museum in Washington D.C. With me where "Annette" a lady I affectionately call my jewish mama, and her daughter who is a dear friend.
I wanted to visit this museum with them, because I had seen Annette's family photo. The one with about 20 people in it, most of whom had died in the Holocaust. Annette's grandmother had been burned in the village square. Her crime - worshiping God in a different way than her neighbours.

As we toured the Holocaust museum I was overwhelmed by the horrors I was confronted with. The abuse, the torture, the refusal of North America to accept a ship full of jewish children. A part of me protested "this can't be real, how could people do such things to each other." The word "Natzi" took on a whole new level of meaning for me.  However, the hardest thing for me to process, was how so many people could have stood by and let it happen. How they had lived with this atrocity and ignored it as if it wasn't their problem. How they had judged the jewish people as "probably evil, because they were different. I remember thinking... "If I was there, I would have done something. I would have hidden the jews, I would have helped them. I would be different than the rest of the people who let that happen." 

Fast forward ten years, and here we are. Another group of people, who worship God differently than we do, crying for help, asking to be let in to our countries. Now it's not NATZI'S its ISSIS.
What will be our reaction? Indifference? Fear? Judgement? "They are probably evil because they are different?"

I hope not. 25,000 refugees will come to Canada in the next two months. 2000 of them will come to my city. Should they be carefully screened? Of course. Speak up to the government and call upon them to do that.
However, the bigger question is not about the government. Looking back on the past, we can see that the bigger question is... How will you and I respond? The new refugees in our city will need clothes, household furnishings, warm coats, and most of all they will need love and acceptance. I encourage you to consider the ways that you can offer that. There are centres in each city that accept donations. Beyond that, you can help by supporting groups like " The liberation of Christian and Jewish Children" who are taking risks to pull children out of the hands of ISSIS, one at a time.  http://www.liberationiraq.com

There is one image from the Holocaust museum that continues to be a symbol for me of indifference. It is the piles of shoes found in the concentration camps that belonged to the many who died there.

I believe that each generation will face it's own test of complacency in the face of evil. I truly pray we pass ours.