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WELL I have decided to avail of the wonderful delights that Kerry Airport offers and I have availed of the chance to travel to Berlin.
Berlin has so many sights to explore and it is great to have the opportunity to do so.
I use the word opportunity instead of pleasure with great care because one of the sights I went to visit was the antithesis of pleasure.
I had never been to a concentration camp before and I went to visit the Sachenhausen concentration camp about 25 miles from Berlin yesterday.
The pain, destruction and downright depravity that one human being can inflict on another was revealed to me in all its nakedness. Words simply fail to describe the emotions that arose within me.
As I entered the camp I spoke about trivial matters with a fellow visitor. I think that was my body’s way way of protecting me from what was about to be revealed before my eyes.
The word emotion (energy in motion) comes from the Latin word ‘emovere’ meaning to disturb.
Never before did an explanation of a word’s origin reveal itself in all its clarity as my energies were certainly disturbed and scattered all over the place.
If I was to be honest, I would say they went close to shutdown as it was only on leaving and perhaps a few hours afterwards, that I was in any way able to process them.
I was wondering, for instance, why I wasn’t crying and the only answer I can give is that it was too much to process in such a short period of time.
These detainees were subjected to the most wanton gruesome pain and torture sometimes for many years.
If they stepped over a certain demarcation line they were shot instantly. I even heard reports where one person’s hat was purposefully thrown over the line and he was ordered to fetch it or be shot. In simple terms he was dead or he was dead.
The camp remained open from 1936 – 1945. Death, torture, and torment were a daily occurrence at the camp.
Our guide on the day posed-the question on a regular basis
a). Did the local people know about the happenings in the camp?
b). Could the same happen again
I certainly believe that it could happen again. Mankind’s ability to inflict pain on his fellow human being knows no bounds.
That is why we have to remain vigilant especially how we treat so called outsiders in our society. In truth there are no outsiders in the human race as everybody deserves to be treated equally.
It is when we start a ‘them and us’ sort of mentality that difficulties begin to arise. Please be vigilant as never again do we want to experience such horrors.
• Next week I am going to write about — The Meaning Of Life
