Dark Night
I mentioned in a previous post that the Catholic Church teaches that evil is primarily of two kinds, moral evil and physical, or natural, evil (there is also metaphysical evil, but it is left for more theological discussion). The tsunami horror is considered physical evil; the Holocaust is considered a great moral evil.
Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. I watched TV coverage of a ceremony at Auschwitz marking that event. The grounds was covered in snow and snow pelted down throughout the ceremony. At the start an eerie sound of an approaching train was broadcast signifying the cattle cars which brought over a million Jews to these particular camps. At the close of the ceremony the train tracks burst into flames, so as to never again be used for evil purpose.
I also read the haunting book, Night, by Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel. He was 15 years old when he and his family in Hungary were sent to the concentration camps, where his mother and younger sister were exterminated by gas chamber and crematory at Birkenau, and his father was brutilized until death on a forced march between camps. I was struck by the prominence of bitter cold and snow in Wiesel's book, especially at the end when he was liberated. The scenes on TV today reflected the same conditions which existed exactly 60 years ago.
A snowfall is welcomed by many because it covers much ugliness, stench, dirt, and even noise. It's as if a snowfall purifies the normal and mundane. On the other hand, an avalanche can cause death and destruction, pure physical evil. Man has the capacity to create and perform undeniable good. Likewise, as the history of Nazism shows, man is capable of the purest moral evil.
God bless the victims and the survivors.
Today is the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. I watched TV coverage of a ceremony at Auschwitz marking that event. The grounds was covered in snow and snow pelted down throughout the ceremony. At the start an eerie sound of an approaching train was broadcast signifying the cattle cars which brought over a million Jews to these particular camps. At the close of the ceremony the train tracks burst into flames, so as to never again be used for evil purpose.
I also read the haunting book, Night, by Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel. He was 15 years old when he and his family in Hungary were sent to the concentration camps, where his mother and younger sister were exterminated by gas chamber and crematory at Birkenau, and his father was brutilized until death on a forced march between camps. I was struck by the prominence of bitter cold and snow in Wiesel's book, especially at the end when he was liberated. The scenes on TV today reflected the same conditions which existed exactly 60 years ago.
A snowfall is welcomed by many because it covers much ugliness, stench, dirt, and even noise. It's as if a snowfall purifies the normal and mundane. On the other hand, an avalanche can cause death and destruction, pure physical evil. Man has the capacity to create and perform undeniable good. Likewise, as the history of Nazism shows, man is capable of the purest moral evil.
God bless the victims and the survivors.
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