“It was then I knew there was no limitation to human cruelty.”
I Have Lived a Thousand Years pg. 115
This quote was amazing to me. It rang with such truth and honesty because the words are true. Nobody knows the limit to human cruelty, and nobody ever will. I’m saddened by the fact that the Jews did not know how far the cruelty would go in the ghettos and concentration camps. The Nazis would starve them, whip them, beat them, humiliate them, make them stand for hours on end, and treat them like they were nothing. The cruelty was slowly getting worse and worse and the people in the ghettos had no idea until they were put into the camps. The conditions of these ghettos camps were cruel. If you lived in a ghetto, you were starved, and humiliated. If you went to a work camp, you were given rotten food every other day, you would have to stand for hours on end waiting for the Nazis to get done calling role. To top all of that off, you were forced to work from dusk till dawn. When you were deported to an extermination camp, you were almost gassed right away. All of these conditions and circumstances are cruel and vicious. The cruelty of the human race is worsening and nobody knows when it will stop.
I can make a personal connection to this quote, I've been bullied a lot in the past two years. Some of the things people would say to me were cruel and full of hate. I didn't think their words could get any worse, but they did. Just like the Holocaust, I was lied to and deceived by the words of others. I was told things couldn't get worse, that people weren't as mean as they seemed. The Jews were constantly lied to, they were told they were just going to find new jobs and work in a happy environment when really it was the complete opposite. This happened to me as well, I was told that my problems with bullies would be resolved and that things could only get better. The severeness and cruelty of the words still hurt me today. The memory of the hatred and bitterness still make my eyes water with pain. I didn't know when it would stop until I realized, it would never stop. This quote also states that human cruelty does not have a limit and it never will. Sometimes you don’t realize it until you go through it personally. 
I agree with the meaning of that quote with you that people don't know how cruelty feels. They find out how cruelty feels until its done to them, and no one wants to be treated that way. You never do realize how cruelty seems until you have gone through it personally. I also like the connection you did to yourself my sister is going through a lot of bullying right now, and you never think it will happen to you until one day your world is flipped upside down. I think the Holocaust is a bit related to bullying, but not completely because the Holocaust has another meaning to it. I think you should put in on your paragraph the meaning of a Holocaust. The meaning is destruction or slaughter on a mass scale. It is always good to put in definitions just in case some readers don't know what some words mean. There is many ways in how people look at the Holocaust now. It should be a life changing event to people knowing how cruelty can go so far just from hatred and wanting power.
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting! I appreciate the constructive criticism. I will apply it to my future blog posts. I also hope things for your sister get better. Tell her I wish the best for her and to stay strong!
DeleteI agree with you as well. No one knew how cruel, how unspeakable, the acts in the concentration camps were until we looked back.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the above post regarding what you say related to bullying and destruction. I believe you have a good understanding of bullying from your personal experience. Isn't it often to stop a person or a group of people from being who they are? Your memory of hatred and feelings of bitterness resonate with me related to what was happening for the Jews during the camps. I am sure they had hoped and hoped to be saved, and were not. This can happen with bullying, can't it? Unless you find the right support, those friends and adults who like you just as you are, you can wonder if it will ever end.
I am hopeful that things have gotten better for you and so pleased to read that you can use such a terribly hard personal experience to understand and have empathy for others.
My experience isn't nearly as bad as those that were in the Holocaust but after I read this quote, it made me think of my experience with bullies. Thank you for taking the time out to comment, it means a lot!
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