The Holocaust

Timeline of the Holocaust:

•  January 1933 - Adolf Hitler rises to power.
• March 1933 through September 1935 - Jewish rights were slowly taken away, and the first concentration camps set up. The first sent away were the "undesirables", or the homeless, alcoholic, and unemployed.
• November 1938 - Kristallnacht
• November 1939 - Jews were first forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing for easy identification.
• Early 1940 - European Jews were first sent to concentration camps.
• May 1940 - Auschwitz opens.
• November 1940 - The Warsaw ghetto was closed off, with 400,000 people inside.
• 1941 through 1942 - The first death camps opened, and the mass-gassing of the Jews began.
•  October 1944 through January 1945 - The gas chambers at Auschwitz were used for the last time. Then, the evidence was destroyed and the camps closed. The survivors were taken on 'death marches.'
• April 1945 - Afraid of defeat, Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
• May 1945 - Germany surrenders and the war is over.

Explanation of Terms:

The Holocaust, or the mass killing of six million Jews throughout World War II, perhaps began because anti-semitism, or a suspicion, hatred, or discrimination against Jewish people. The Holocaust is now known as a genocide, defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of an entire ethnic, racial, or religious group. The first major event of the Holocaust was Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass", taking place on November 9-10, 1938. The night consisted of organized destruction of Jewish homes, shops, and businesses, leaving broken glass everywhere. In addition to this, 30,000 Jews were arrested and taken to concentration camps. Those who were not taken were forced into ghettos, or a part of a city inhabited only by a certain group of people. After living in the ghettos, the Jews were deported, or forced to leave their homes, into concentration camps, where they were either killed, abused, or forced into hard labor.

3 Commandments that were broken during the Holocaust:

Commandment One: I am the Lord your God, and you shall have no other gods besides me.

• The Holocaust broke this Commandment because Adolf Hitler put himself above God, and all of the Nazi soldiers worshiped him before God. They did whatever Hitler told them to because he was their leader, even if they knew what they were doing was wrong in every way. Therefore, both Adolf Hitler and the Nazis broke this commandment, in different ways.

Commandment Five: You shall not kill.

•  The Nazis killed six million innocent people, without even thinking twice. The only thing they thought about was how to kill more people, more 'efficiently.' They killed an entire race because they did whatever their "god", Hitler, told them to do.

Commandment Nine: Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

•  The Nazi's lied constantly to the Jews that they were capturing. They would not tell them were they were going after they forced them out of their homes, or told them that everything would be okay. When children asked if their parents would be okay when they were separated, the Nazi's would lie, or just laugh, and leave the children terrified. They were never truthful, whether they were lying or not saying anything at all.

The Fifth Commandment

The Fifth Commandment reads, "Thou shalt not kill", but it takes on a deeper meaning than just that. Three issues that have been tied to abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide, and racism. 

Abortion deals with the killing of a fetus when a mother doesn't want to give birth. I definitely understand "pro-choice" supporters, especially if a woman was raped or abused, but I just cannot get over the fact that you are killing off an innocent child. A child is not an inconvenience, or a choice. You become a mother the moment you find out you're pregnant, and no mother should even have the option to kill her child. You never know what your child is going to become, you have to let him or her be born and have a chance! Aside from that, your baby's heart begins to beat 24 days after conception, so your unborn child is still very much alive when you kill it because you think this miracle inside you will do nothing but ruin your life.

Another issue that deals with the Fifth Commandment is euthanasia and assisted suicide. Euthanasia and assisted suicide deals with the issue of family members being able to put their loved ones down to death if they are suffering and have absolutely no chance of getting better. I'm sure that it is difficult to watch a family member slowly die, but absolutely no one has the power to take life away, except for God. God gave you a life, and God is going to be the one to eventually take it away. Not your mother, or father, or sister, or cousin. I don't know how you can, in good conscience, make the choice to kill someone. No one should be pressured with that choice, especially because it shouldn't even be a choice. You just do not get to decide when you die.

Racism doesn't necessarily end in death, but it may, and it includes lessening the value of human life, so it too deals with the Fifth Commandment. Showing prejudice towards someone is basically telling them that your life is way better than there's is, and you are superior in every way. God made all of us, and He made us all equal. No one is any place to judge another human being. We are all equal in every way. Truly, the only way somebody can be inferior is if they believe that they are in a place to judge other people.

"Each child is sent into this world by God with a unique message to deliver, a new personal act of love to bestow." -John Powell

Responses to Trayvon Martin

All across our nation, the Trayvon Martin murder case has been sparking media attention. There is suddenly an overwhelming sense of support behind this poor victim and his family, in so many different ways.

In different cities, people are organizing marches where all of the participants wear their hoods up, as if to symbolize Trayvon Martin's last action. In Rochester, more than 1,000 people walked from the Liberty Pole to the Federal Building on Sunday, just to show their support for the case, for the mourning family, and to show that we are all in favor of justice being served.

Barack Obama was asked about the case; please watch his response below:

http://front.moveon.org/president-obamas-powerful-response-to-the-trayvon-martin-murder/

Obama is now being criticized for saying that if he had a son, the boy would look like Trayvon. Some have said that the President is implying that if Trayvon had been white, he would have not felt as much sympathy for him as he does right now. Personally, I think that people need to put their personal issues with Obama aside and focus on the task at hand: Trayvon Martin is dead. And the President was simply offering his condolensces to the Martin family, as well as implying that if Obama had a son, that boy could have died the same way Trayvon did.

The Miami Heat basketball players have also taken note of the tragedy. They posted a picture to Twitter with their hoods up, and their heads down, to honor and show support for Trayvon Martin. Martin's father commented on this and said that Trayvon was athletic and would have been touched by all of his role models knowing about him and honoring his life.



"These athletes are saying, 'It's not about who I am. It's about right and wrong. It's like everybody's taking notice.'" - Tracy Martin

On February 26th of this year, tragedy struck the Martin family when they heard the news of their 17 year old son, Trayvon, being shot and killed. What was he doing, you may ask? He was walking back to his father's fiancees home, in a gated community, carrying only an iced tea and a bag of Skittles. The murderer, 28 year old George Zimmerman, was a part of the neighborhood watch group.

There's nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that he has called police 46 times since the beginning of the year, he weighs twice what Trayvon does, and according to neighbors, was "fixated on crime and focused on young, black boys", AND he has been criticized by these same neighbors for his aggressive tactics. Yet, Zimmerman wasn't even tested for drugs or alchohol after he murdered Trayvon. He was questioned and released by the very same officer who was criticized for purposely releasing a lieutenant's son who clearly attacked a homeless man back in 2010.

 

If this isn't a case of racial profiling, I don't know what is. Trayvon's parents have even said that there is no doubt in their minds that if the shooter was black, and the victim was white, the black man would "still be sitting in jail." Zimmerman answered that Trayvon was black when asked, then repeated it, as if to make sure they knew what they were dealing with. Then, he claimed, "these a**holes always get away." What group was he referring to exactly? Franky I think the only person getting away here is George Zimmerman himself.

"I know America is the land of liberty, but my child has to understand he’s just free-ish."

-Christy Oglesby

(on teaching her son, Drew, that he must live his life worrying about not looking any sort of suspicious, due to racial profiling)

Ending the R-word

One thing I don't understand about our society today is why people think that other with mental disabilities are so inferior to them. A person is a person, and it doesn't matter if they have any kind of setback, at all. People use the "R-word" so regularly nowadays, as a way to describe something as stupid or weird. I understand that a majority of people don't mean direct offense when they say it, but what they are implying couldn't get any more rude if they tried.

People think that they have to treat those with disabilities in a different way, but you don't. Having worked with kids who have Autism and Down's Syndrome, I can tell you from firsthand experience that we can all learn something from these kids. They are happy, they live in the moment, they're grateful, and they certainly don't judge other people. 

I think everyone who insinuates that people with mental disabilities are stupid, or never going to make it in the real world should spend time with someone who actually lives with the condition, and then tell us all if they still think they same way. There are so many other words that you can use to imply that you think something is idiotic or stupid, but in doing so, you don't need to cut down something a person can't even control. You don't use slang terms that cut down a group of people who are the same race, so why is it okay to use slang words that cut down a group of people with mental disabilities? Truly, using the R-word in everyday life is nothing but a lack of respect and class, and everyone should think about that before the next time they say.

"Everyone has a gift and the world would be better off if we recognized it." -Timothy Shriver 

(Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics)

My Teacher Won't Let Me Swear on Twitter!

A lot of people disagree with the fact that teachers monitor what their students post on social network sites, but I have to say that I see where both sides coming from. Is the teacher taking their job past its limits? Or do the students need to be watched after school hours too? The students just want to be free from rules for a little while, and the teachers just want their students to look classy and respectful.

 I see that the students think that if they aren't in school, then they don't have to comply with school rules. They can untuck their shirts, they can put on whatever shoes they want, and they can write whatever they want on Twitter. Twitter is a place where students can vent, complain, appreciate, and just talk about whatever is going on in their lives, as teenagers do. So naturally, they don't like when their teachers during the school day put restrictions on what they do after hours.

But, if the Twitter was made for school related purposes, then they actually do have to comply. If their teachers are allowing their students to use social network, then the teacher is fully responsible for what appears on their accounts. No matter what the students are doing, they will represent themselves, their families, and their schools, and if they are immature enough to take advantage of that, then maybe they need to be monitored online. The material on the student's twitters reflects the teacher since it is because of them that all of these students were introduced to Twitter. All that the students need to do is think twice before posting on Twitter, and realize just how many people see these posts.

"If you won't speak it, don't type it."

Resolutions for the World

1. Help eachother.
2. Don't forget about anyone, no matter how far away you think they are, or how much better you believe you are.
3. Work together.
4. Provide everyone with basic human necessities. 
5. Don't give up on anyone or anything. There's always a solution if you work hard enough.
6. No more prejudice. We're all equal, in every way.
7. End these wars, and bring our troops home.
8.Go green, in every way possible.
9. Treat everyone like your neighbors, because in a way, they are.
10. Cure cancer.

"Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed."