A Gathering Storm

One of my favorite authors is Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor who has gone on to write many books about the human condition. He has been awarded the Nobel prize for Peace for his work in uniting humankind and speaking out against the cruelties that humans suffer at the hands of each other. His book, Night, changed the way I thought about everything. I had the distinct pleasure of listening to him speak a number of years ago about the massacres in Rwanda and how, for him, our world now is full of parallels to his world before his encampment. He mentioned how he cringes when people say that the Holocaust could never happen again because he sees the same skies collecting that he once saw as a boy.

School never taught me about the Holocaust - not truly. Of course, my education hit on the high points. I was left with the idea that the German army, in one fell swoop, moved Jews to the concentration camps where they were systematically destroyed. One day they were free, the next they were imprisoned. And it was only Jews. It wasn't until I visited the Holocaust museum in Washington DC that I learned about the nonJews that were included and I understood about the time leading up to the move to the camps. The degradation started small. Jews were not able to purchase certain nonessential items like flowers or wine. They were not able to enjoy concerts or restaurants. Later, there were curfews. Jewish children were unable to go to school. Jews had to register and carry papers, wear gold stars in plain sight, ration their food. By the time they were asked to move from their homes into the Warsaw ghetto, the decree was just one in a long line of ways to make an entire people invisible. And nobody could imagine that there existed enough cruelty and evil in the world to euthanize an entire race. And so they got on the train.

I was reminded of this when I read this article from a Montana newspaper (thanks Towleroad). The article describes how the Montana Family Association is opposed to new measures by the Montana Board of Education to limit bullying in schools. They feel that the measures that would limit the bullying of LGBT students dangerously promote a homosexual lifestyle and those measures should be excluded. Essentially, bullying of LGBT kids is OK and there should be no measures to prevent or penalize such bullying behavior. It is easy to dismiss this as ultraconservative or wingnut behavior but the measure is up for a vote. And take a look around. Gay men have been unable to donate blood or plasma for a long time but it was just this year that this might extend to sperm donation. We still have no overall employment protection and can still be fired just for being gay. This year alone, we have read stories about gay people denied access to country clubs, private properties, and even this country. There is sweeping legislation, constitutional changes, on the table to significantly limit our ability to maintain family and relationships. And people are still murdered for no other reason than being gay. The skies are cloudy indeed.

Many civil rights and minority groups are torn on where to stand. Will standing up for us weaken their own position on the political power scale. So many people say that there is no comparison. Homosexuality is a choice, your race is not. People cannot hide the color of their skin, gay people can live in the closet. And certainly through the ages, many have hidden in order to survive. Those who can "pass" might have a chance in this world. But should we have to make that decision? Should having to choose the shame of denying our own life, beliefs, culture, race, ever be a choice? And are the seemingly little degradations that we endure, the denials, the slow and quiet dissolution of our civil liberty, the fuel for the greater fire on our own road to invisibility? When the time comes, will we not even be able to see ourselves anymore?

After listening to Mr. Wiesel talk that evening, I had the chance to stand in front of him - to meet this amazing man who had changed my way of thinking about things. This man who has stood in the presence of and voiced his opinions to politicians, kings, spiritual leaders, law makers, and great free thinkers now stood in front of me. He looked at me as I imagine he looked at all of those greater men when I asked him what the solution was, how we can change this world that we live in before it is too late. His words were probably the same. With a gentle voice, he only said this to me,

"Remember one thing at all times. Be good to each other."