Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Born in 1928 in the Carpathian Mountains, Wiesel and his family were forced into the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944. Sadly, Wiesel was the only survivor from his family. He has since spent his life advocating for nonviolence and human rights, and in 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In honor of his death on July 2nd, 2016 I want to share his words of wisdom from his speech "The Perils Of Indifference." I believe his words have something to teach us all.

As he addressed the room, he spoke words of gratitude to our country as a whole for intervening when we did. He spoke briefly about his time in a concentration camp and began to elaborate on the word "indifferent" and what it meant to him. Wiesel described it as: “A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil."

Wiesel then continued to explain that allowing ourselves to be indifferent to the pain and suffering of the world is not a response. He explained that indifference is not a beginning, but an end. It benefits the enemy and never the victims. Ever so beautifully he said,

"In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses."

The U.S. needs to hear these words more now than ever. Recent events are revealing corruption within the system and major abuse of power, and people are choosing to be indifferent to it. While most are outraged at the injustice, others continue on with their lives because they don't think they could help stop it. Every single person that backs up the cause and speaks out against these crimes and injustices is helping.

History often at times can repeat itself. Wiesel had hoped that we could see how harmful indifference has been in the past and that we would avoid it in the future. His dream was for us to advance as a species and start making an effort to help each other grow and flourish instead of constantly tearing each other down in hopes of raising ourselves. My only hope is that Elie Wiesel's words carry a wave of hope and positivity to those who need it, and we as a species can begin to change the world.