Thursday 31 January 2008

seeing through someone else's eyes

Liverpool hosted this years Holocaust Memorial Commemorations throughout January 08. There were some thought provoking exhibitions and events.

I went to Liverpool Cathedral to see the Anne Frank + You exhibition which runs until early Feb. Survivors who came to Liverpool on the Kindertransport to escape persecution and settle with foster families have been talking to school children during the event to give them an insight and remind us of how 'bad things happen when good men fall silent".

Having been ill I intended to just pop into the 'Respectacles' exhibition at the town hall to donate 3 pairs of glasses as they are all going to Vision Aid when the exhibition finishes. But I was drawn into the exhibition and the main hall. It was of thousands of glasses representing different communities who were pulled to pieces during the Third Reich's reign. Some were laid out on a train track to represent the camps and other spelled out the word 'Hope'. It was easily one of the most moving and 'get under your skin' exhibitions I have seen about the subject of the Holocaust and I am proud that Liverpool had the chance to host it.

I am going to Bosnia this year to do holistic treatments at a centre in Sarajevo and other work in local villages with people who suffered during the Balkans conflicts. It really brought home to me seeing this exhibition that the Holocaust was only several decades ago and though we say it must never happen again there are genocides occurring everywhere. We can do our bit, but politicians must do theirs, as actions speak louder than words and also save many more thousands of lives.

One quote from the exhibition stuck out too, it was both sad and optimistic at once, it was found, scrawled on the wall below a Star of David, by American soldiers searching a cellar of a bombed house in one of the war-torn cities of Germany. Whilst I am not religious it seemed very profound in so many ways. It could mean something to so many people in so many different circumstances.
"I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when I do not feel it. I believe in God, even when He is silent."

and to end with some words from Anne Frank,” How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

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