Quick Thought: Memorials...

So, a quick thought as I walked by the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, near Fanueil Hall today...

I never really thought of the meaning of "memorial" before. Okay that's not true. I understood them to be physical (usually) monuments or places where the goal was to invoke memories of people, places, events, etc. in history. And for the most part, they have always seemed like curiosities for me... "War memorial, who is going to forget that we had a World War?!"

You know? Today was the first time I realized that it's not about forgetting history, but about keeping history in the front of our minds, and being coerced into thinking about events that are indeed important.

For example, as I walked by/through the Holocaust Memorial today, on my way to the North End, I found myself thinking about perhaps what it would have been like to be branded with a number and forced into a camp. Furthermore, I wondered about how it would have felt to walk into the camps as
 a liberating soldier and see stick figurines that were barely recognizable as people. Then I wondered how bitterly God must have been weeping to see His creation war against itself in such a grotesque way.

Would any of these thoughts been on my mind had the Memorial not been there? Quick and obvious answer is no. I would have walked to the Quincy Market steps, sat down, pulled out my brother's mini-laptop, and sat online as I am now typing away about my galavanting through Europe etc. In the scope of human history, my blog, my Europe Trip, my thoughts, all are barely a speck of sand in a desert. In other words, I would have been consumed in my own world and thinking about my own world.

I am willing to bet that this can and often is the case about the thousands of people around me in the City of Boston. I'm not condemning or judging, merely acknowledging an aspect of human nature that we slip into quite easily.

Which is why Memorials are so intriguing! They work! What a great, great idea! The Washington Monument, although extravagant, instantly calls to mind Washington DC, and then we think about George Washington, and we wonder what kind of man was he? We are reminded of noble causes, of "freedom", etc.

Now the question remains: is it good to be made to think of different events in human history like that? I don't know if we can put an evaluative judgement on such a thing. Is it "good" that I was thinking about the Holocaust on my way into Public Outreach to learn about Plan USA? Sure. At least, it definitely did not hurt me, and it has only made me reflect further on the past in order to think deeper about the present and the future.

Look, I am blessed to have the life that I do. I'm walking around Boston in a shirt that says "Everyone Poops", wearing a cross necklace that I carved, sporting a huge beard, with a white and blue sparkly bandana on my head, and wearing my Vibram Five Fingers. In another time and place, I would be an alien and probably harassed. But not here, not now, and well I'll admit, being white and male in America helps.

If a few towers of glass with mist coming up in them and millions of "bar codes" and quotes about Holocaust survivors can make me appreciate more what I have, then I am all for those towers of glass being there.

May God Bless you and Keep you.

~Sean