I just watched a profound movie called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is based on a book of the same name by John Boyne. ( I know middle of the day on a Thursday, I had so much to do, but it was worth it.)
It is about a friendship that is formed between two 8 year old boys. One boy is the son of a German Commander of the concentration camp where the other little boy is a prisoner. Both boys are as naïve and they should be and the movie is seen from their perspective and understanding. While I watched from my perspective as an adult and a mother. It was beautiful and painful. Painful in the way that gets me all charged up. Thus here I am still with my long list of tasks to accomplish but I am filled with emotion and drive that I need to get out so I don’t forget.
Many of us in America have been raised on and taught a lot about World War II and the Holocaust. I know many of my peers like me felt driven beyond our high school English and history classes to find out more. Thanks to Anne Frank, Eli Wiesel, Corrie ten Boom and many, many others we have had a myriad of sources to turn to for more education about this dark period in Europe. A common question that I often ask and that I know many others do too is “How could so many Germans sit by and allow this to happen?” Also “Why did we as Americans not get involved sooner?”I don’t think I am alone in feeling some disappointment in my grandparents generation for these things. As an adult now I do realizes that in trying to answer these questions there are as many “Becauses” as there are “Whys”. I am grateful that we have been taught the truth and that there continues to be awareness of this atrocity, in effort to prevent another.
But the fact of the matter is that atrocities like the Holocaust are happening all over our world this very minute. Unlike our grandparents we really can’t claim that we “just don’t know about it.” If we don’t know about it is because we choose not to know about it. Information doesn’t come to us weeks old off the radio waves. We have news and information at the tips of our fingers 24 hours a day.
You wouldn’t have to google very far to learn about the exterminations in Darfour, the human rights atrocities in Asia, the child soldiers in Uganda and human trafficking and starvation the world over.
The Lord has told us “If thou lovest me thou…wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:30)
I just counted in my personal scriptures from the topical guide that there are 107 references to taking care of the poor and the needy of our world. It is in every book of scripture that we (LDS) have from the Old Testament through the Pearl of Great Price.
I think the scriptures make it pretty clear that helping our brothers and sisters all over the world is not an institutional responsibility but an individual one.
I don’t want my granddaughter asking me why I sat in my abundance and did not sacrifice to help those around me.
More than that. I do not want to stand before my Savior, who has blessed me with a privileged lifestyle, AND gave ALL that he had temporally, spiritually, and physically and tell him I didn’t have enough to share, or I didn’t take the time or risk to help.
