This month I visited the Anne Frank exhibition in St Albans Abbey and was reminded again of what a normal, hardworking family she came from. I also listened to an interview with Susan Pollack MBE, a Holocaust survivor, sent by cattle truck to Auschwitz-Birkenau. The horror of the stories she told replayed in my mind for days afterwards. As one of my students wisely commented, we hear so much about the collective, but to listen to an individual’s account is incredibly powerful. Susan was asked by a member of the audience if anyone tried to help her and sadly the answer was no. People watched as they were rounded up, but no one even stepped forward with a piece of bread.
This week has seen a movement on social media with the simple slogan: Be kind. It comes with the appeal to take better care of one another, to support each other in difficulties. Not to tear one another down.
Jesus would agree, his message was loud and clear: do not judge others, let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
So, what can we do to make our world a better place? Susan, following her rescue from the concentration camp, decided not to become embittered but to dedicate her life to educating others about the horrors of what she experienced. We all need to work hard at making sure atrocities, both large and small, are not repeated.
A message to others of kindness and grace is far more redemptive than one of judgement and condemnation. As Lent begins this week, rather than giving something up, why not resolve to be kinder? It could change the world.
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