"You Know, That Whole Holocaust Thing"

So, I had a pretty interesting experience over the weekend. I was with the Germans and all the volunteers went to a bar to watch the Germany-Uruguay game to see who gets the 3rd place spot in the World Cup. It was an epic game ending 3-2 for Germany so they take the bronze, the Germans were pretty happy about that.

Now for the interesting part. We were all sitting in the back two rows and all the Israelis were sitting in the front two rows (it was an outdoor viewing experience). Everytime Germany scored, people in the back two rows cheered and the front two were solemn, and vice versa when Uruguay scored. There was an Israeli woman from Tel Aviv, Tamur, sitting next to me and I asked her, "So are the Israelis for Uruguay or just against Germany?" She said they didn't really care who was playing against Germany, they were always cheering for the other team, in fact, they were a little bummed that Germany made it this far. So I followed up with, "why?" Now I already had some ideas in my head, some I thought were a little far-fetched but then she replied, "Oh, you know, that whole holocaust thing." This threw me off a little bit (this was one of the far-fetched reasons I came up with), I mean, I understand the holocaust was a terrible situation and one of the downfalls of humanity but to cheer against a soccer team, 70 years later no less, because of something that happened far in the past (and a situation that most Germans are simply embaressed about), kind of suprised. Most Israelis even admit that Germany is an amazing team but whenever Germany does anything politcally, or sport-oriented, etc., Israelis usually look down on it and rarely support it. I told this to Thomas and Willy and they were actually kind of embaressed by this, for an entire nation-state to despise another so fervently for something that happened in the dark past made them kind of sad, especially since the majority of those involved in WWII are now past away and every single player on the German team, as well as the coach, were born at least 30 years after the fact.

This kind of makes me embaressed of humanity as well. Everyone always says we must learn from history, learn from our mistakes. When does this ever truly happen? Honestly. This is not learning, this is not taking the terror that occured during the holocaust and gaining wisdom from it, this is dwelling on the past. Frankly, this is kind of childish. I don't mean to negate the horror of the holocaust or any genocide for that matter, but Israelis seem to dwell on it, despise a country for something that the current citizens struggle with, and the Israeli government even uses it as an excuse for some of the political actions taken. From what I saw in Japan, they don't pout about the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, they take what happened, and attempt to make peace out of it (the Hiroshima Museum, speaking to nations with nuclear warheads and communicating about the tragedies that can come from using them, etc.). This is what I imagine when I think of learning from our mistakes, not gaining up against a currently innocent nation-state.

I have hope for humanity, I do. But the more I travel and learn about the human race, the harder it is to hold on to this hope (this does not mean I don't enjoy traveling of course, I love it). I'm not a pessimist and by no means am I an optimist, but I'd like to think of myself as a realist. Realistically, a lot of what I've seen here in Israel and in Palestine dissapoints me, hurts many of the hopes for humanity that I have left. I'm glad I'm going into international relations and I'm glad I'm learning what I am; these experiences, I hope, will give me wisdom that I will one day be able to share. But currently, everywhere I seem to turn, the downfalls of humanity seem to rise up and take hold of the governments, religions, and media in this world. What happened to thinking? What happened to people using the intelligence and logic that we have? This next one is rhetorical but, why do we destroy one another? In the end, I fear they all have the same answer, we are human. Being human is our greatest power and our greatest downfall; humanity balances on a dangerous equilibrium that I fear will someday tip for the worst. What we can do though, what I will continue to strive to do, is help. Keep this equilirium going as long as possible, keep people happy - I mentioned the downfalls of humanity in governments, and religion, and media, and people themselves; but we have to embrace the beauty that comes out of these things as well. We are a fragile species and there's a good chance that we may someday destroy ourselves; but until that day comes, I say enjoy yourself, be a good person, embrace one another, don't get caught up in the little things and, above all, live your life - this is the only way to maintain the beautiful and delicate equilibrium that we call humanity.

P.S. Sorry if this was depressing or a little much for any of you, I clearly had a lot on my mind and this is my way to vent - no one else here speaks English well enough to understand.