The Perils of Indifference

"...And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor—never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. ..."

This is a quote from Elie Wiesel's speech The Perils of Indifference from 1999. In it, he speaks on the horrors of the Holocaust that came with the indifference of the world and that as they welcomed the new millennium, the world should learn. That we should act should this happen again. He spoke optimistically that we would be less insensitive to the plight of victims.

And how I wish I could say he was right. Unfortunately, it isn't the case. Not completely. There are people helping. There are people speaking out. But the world lets it continue.

So have we learned?

So have we gotten better?

I don't know. I don't think anyone does.

But we need to try. Indifference has let this happen, and if we want to make progress, we need to kill indifference. There is no neutrality in this. Neutrality in a situation like this says: "We are complicit. We do not care." But we should care. If genocide happens to them, what will keep it from happening to us?

Remember that when you claim "indifference."

Hatred does not stop.

End the genocide.