Comments on: Working Out the Holocaust http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/ It's a group blog. What more do you need to know? Mon, 21 May 2012 16:24:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Tomaltach http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/#comment-60552 Tomaltach Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:38:01 +0000 http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/#comment-60552 By the way I was the first in the queue in our canteen today and I chose an egg and onion sandwich and potatoe and leek soup. I sat at a large round table and 7 other colleagues gathered around. As the others slurped their swill and made vacuous comments about English soccer and American Tv, I ate in silence and pondered the dark heart of humanity. By the way I was the first in the queue in our canteen today and I chose an egg and onion sandwich and potatoe and leek soup. I sat at a large round table and 7 other colleagues gathered around. As the others slurped their swill and made vacuous comments about English soccer and American Tv, I ate in silence and pondered the dark heart of humanity.

]]> By: Donagh http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/#comment-60544 Donagh Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:35:33 +0000 http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/#comment-60544 Thanks for comment Tomaltach on what I realise is a very long and ponderous post. I think I need to write more regularly to avoid such dreariness. You make a very good point, but, without wishing to appear complacent I generally try to avoid thinking about the dark heart of humanity on a monday lunchtime, unless, of course, I haven't eaten and someone slip ahead of me in the sandwich queue :) Thanks for comment Tomaltach on what I realise is a very long and ponderous post. I think I need to write more regularly to avoid such dreariness.

You make a very good point, but, without wishing to appear complacent I generally try to avoid thinking about the dark heart of humanity on a monday lunchtime, unless, of course, I haven’t eaten and someone slip ahead of me in the sandwich queue :)

]]> By: Tomaltach http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/#comment-60535 Tomaltach Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:08:22 +0000 http://dublinopinion.com/2008/02/01/working-out-the-holocaust/#comment-60535 I believe the Holocaust should be remembered, but like you, I doubt if it will. I think we are beginning to reach a stage where we are only <i>going through the motions</i> as you put it. With each passing generation the urgency to remember it fades. Memory of its gruesome horrors will become mixed up with the general memory of terrible events sometime in a distant past. And the dark hole in the heart of humanity that the Holocaust exposed will once again become hidden and latent. This illustrates the depressing truth that we cannot really learn from the past. We are shocked for a while, then we lapse back into our default state of complacency. My own view of humanity is not all black. The human being is capable of noble things: compassion and tenderness, innovation and great art, and perhaps above all, capable of the brave quest to understand the bizarre mystery of being itself. But a horrid and powerful darkness lurks in the heart of humanity. The Holocaust is probably the single and most shocking reminder of how that darkness can propel us into a world of utter depravity and obscene destruction. I believe the Holocaust should be remembered, but like you, I doubt if it will. I think we are beginning to reach a stage where we are only going through the motions as you put it. With each passing generation the urgency to remember it fades. Memory of its gruesome horrors will become mixed up with the general memory of terrible events sometime in a distant past. And the dark hole in the heart of humanity that the Holocaust exposed will once again become hidden and latent. This illustrates the depressing truth that we cannot really learn from the past. We are shocked for a while, then we lapse back into our default state of complacency.

My own view of humanity is not all black. The human being is capable of noble things: compassion and tenderness, innovation and great art, and perhaps above all, capable of the brave quest to understand the bizarre mystery of being itself. But a horrid and powerful darkness lurks in the heart of humanity. The Holocaust is probably the single and most shocking reminder of how that darkness can propel us into a world of utter depravity and obscene destruction.

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