The III Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides.
Sunday, January 24, 2010

This was an educational program, where 7 speakers reflected on 7 topics for 7 minutes each. Then 7 commentators made comments about 7 different situations. The topics ranged from the Holocaust to Genocides, massacres and tragedies.

Pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/sets/72157623333495277
Facebook pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=394643&id=851280248

This is perhaps the first time in our history that we have acknowledged the genocides of the indigenous Americans and Native peoples of Americas in a public forum along with other tragedies.

There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or some times refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or some how it amounts to infidelity to our own cause, and shame on us for justifying massacres that the victims deserved it or they asked for it.

We learned a few simple things that we can do to prevent such tragedies. It was a purposeful event to learn, acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things that we humans have inflicted upon each other. We also learned that our safety hinges on the safety of all others around us.

The Holocaust was a major human tragedy and a failure of humanity. Among Genocides, Massacres and other tragedies we reflected upon the Indigenous American people such as the Mayans, the Toltecs and the massacres of the Native people right here in Dallas, we touched upon Darfur, Polpot, Congo, Armenia, Rwanda, Falun Dafa, Burma, Tibet, Bosnia, India, Gaza and the transatlantic slave trade. Through these representative events, our goal was to reflect upon every human tragedy. The words do not describe the sufferings of people in full, we have to work with the limited choice of words, but have a big heart to feel the pain and suffering of every human being, not just my people or my tribe, but every one. Let there be one negative energy of suffering that we are part of, together we can work on getting out of it.

The Jewish community has borne the suffering of the Holocaust for over sixty years; it is time for us to share it. No community should bear the suffering alone; we all have to stand up, and be there for each other.

We learned to see each other with dignity, and honor the otherness of other. Gatherings such as this offer hope and opportunity for a secure and a safer world.

Of the several acknwledgements, a few notable ones are;

1. other peoples suffering is as legitimate as ours;
2. some one related to us through faith, ethnicity or race has been a butcher too,
3. it takes courage to see ourselves as perpetrators, while it is easy to ourselves as victims;
4. we can see the light at the end of the tunnel when politics is stripped;
5. we can value others suffering without lessening our own;
6. the overriding desire to highlight my own gets softened, when we value others pain;
7. the sense of responsibility for creating a better world was present in us.

A full report is available in PDF format at the Websites:

www.HolocaustandGenocides.com
www.FoundationforPluralism.com
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
www.MikeGhouse.net

It is an initiative of American Muslims striving to build responsible civic societies. The event was organized by the Foundation for Pluralism, where co-existence is our value. We appreciate the sponsorshi by the Center for Spiritual Living, all the three are Dallas based Organizations.

to the Jews we say you are not alone;
to the Homosexual community who has surived holocaust, we say you are not alone;
to the Darfurians we say you are not alone;
to the Kashmiris we say you are not alone;
to the Gujaratis we say you are not alone;
to the native people all around the world, we say you are not alone;
to the Gazans we say you are not alone;
to the Ugandans we say you are no alone;
to the ones we are yet to know but have endured the pain, we say you are not alone

and to every community that has endured holocaust, genocides, massacres, bombs, annihilation, land mines, hunger, rape, torture, occupation and inhuman brutality, the least we can do in the process of healing is to acknowledge every one's pain in one room, as one people.

We have begun the process of coming together as one people, to stand with you, we are indeed one world and one humanity and caring for each other brings safety and peace to all of us. I cannot be safe if the people around me are not, and I will not have peace if people around me don't. It is in my interest to seek a peaceful world for one and all.

A full day conference is planned for Wednesday, January 26, 2011 to discuss every human tragedy, please submit a thoroughly researched 500 word abstract about the event you'd like to discuss to -HolocaustandGenocides@gmail.com

We are working on initiating a course on tolerance education, so one day, we all can learn to have a heart that opens to the pain of every human.

Initial report - http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/2010/01/initial-report-on-holocaust-and.html

Mike Ghouse, Chair
Holocaust and Genocides
http://www.holocaustandgenocides.com/
Location: Center for Spiritual Living, Spring Valley, Dallas, Texas