In today's world, the idea of a massive holocaust seems almost foreign. For some students, the Holocaust is nothing more than a few pages in a history book devoted to an explanation of a horrible situation that took the lives of millions.
Junior Tim Boswell wants to help students remember the atrocity and its lessons by creating Holocaust Awareness Week at Ball State University. The week includes the display of colored flags in LaFollette Field and other events to memorialize victims of the genocide that took place.
Boswell brought the events to campus, and students should take advantage of his hard work. Students can benefit from attending events during the week and learning about the Holocaust and what caused it.
The flags represent the 12 million victims who died during the Holocaust, but the real message is more important than a few thousand flags in the ground. The Holocaust was the result of multiple bad decisions in foreign policy and might have been prevented if handled differently. Survivors of the Holocaust know better than most what led up to the disaster and can give valuable advice on how to ensure mass genocide never occurs again.
There were multiple times when Hitler and his insane ideas could have been crushed, but people suffered because of inaction and poor political decisions. Today, the colored flags are only a representation of the misery and torture the events leading up to the Holocaust caused. Survivors triumphed over both poor decisions and a terrible war, and their experiences and advice can help to ensure history doesn't repeat itself.
The people who died during the Holocaust are gone forever, but the survivors know what led up to the Holocaust. Survivors can tell modern society exactly what not to do because they know from experience - they lived through every poor decision that caused the Holocaust.
Students should do everything in their power to help keep the lessons survivors have to offer alive. Attending the sessions Boswell brought to campus this week is a good start, but students can take the initiative to do something themselves as well.
Instead of simply learning about the Holocaust in textbooks, students could take an active approach to finding out how to prevent another disaster from survivors. No amount of knowledge that can be found in history books can replace the first-hand knowledge Holocaust survivors have.
When you see the flags waving at LaFollette Field, remember those who died during the Holocaust and find inspiration for keeping the story alive. History's mistakes can only teach a lesson if they are remembered.
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