Honoring Elie Wiesel: On the Opposite of Love

Elie Wiesel was our conscience and our memory of the Holocaust.  He was voice for millions of the murdered because of the hatred and madness of one leader and his supporters.  But also the Jewish citizens died due to the overwhelming silence of others.  It is both easy and difficult to understand the fear of speaking out when neighbors are disappearing.  Consequences of disagreeing with Hitler, as with other dictators, were and are severe and usually fatal. But that begs the question on how dictators ascend to national control in the first instance.

Anyone who read Night was no doubt haunted by the inhumanity.   But one of the lessons Mr. Wiesel taught us was not to wait in confronting hateful conditions as they are developing. Politics rooted in hate can be powerful and, if not curbed,  lead to the sort of unimaginable suffering that Mr. Wiesel endured.   Not confronting hatred when it first appears permits inhumanity to grow.  Failure to confront hatred opens the door for demagogues.

As we celebrate July 4th, we might ponder how easily we could lose our independence through our silence.  As Mr. Wiesel taught: "The opposite of love is indifference."