Reality check

I had the honor of meeting a Holocaust survivor. Lou Dunst came to speak at my Jewish Faith & Practices class.
He began his speech by boldly stating that six million people were reduced to ashes and used for fertilizer, soap was made from their bodies and their skin was used for lampshades and gloves. He then said, “and the free world did nothing.”
Dunst was born in Jasina, Czechoslovakia in 1926. This meant he was seven years old when Hitler came to power, and 14 when he was brought to Auschwitz as a slave laborer. 
There is so much to say about this man and the hell he endured. However, what was most important about this discussion was when he began speaking about hatred. He said, “There should be no hatred. We should not hate. We are responsible to make sure nobody is suffering.  I carry no animosity toward anybody.” It truly is astonishing that he really does not have any hate towards the men who did this to him. I cannot comprehend this notion.
This is not something I can fathom, and I don’t have the right to. One of the questions that was asked in class was, “How do you feel about movies or fiction books that tell a story about the Holocaust?” His response was, “To make a film in Hollywood, to reproduce what would be happening is impossible. How is it possible to assume this? Beyond comprehension.” I can only take his word and know that I will never understand the Holocaust.
I admire the faith that he has in human nature. He believes that all people are born good. He said that if a person went into Auschwitz good, they would continue to be a good person. If they were bad before, they would continue to be bad. He does not believe that the environment was able to change the goodness of a person. When he asked a Russian soldier one day what all “this” was for, the response was, “my head doesn’t work and my heart is bleeding.” The only way I can interpret this is that he has been bad for so long, that the option of change is long gone.
The last thing he said to us was, “If I can reach one of you, then I am satisfied.”  I will have to say that he left with full satisfaction. I do not believe that one person walked out of that room without a changed perspective on their life. Every woman hugged him and every man shook his hand. This was not because we were all following a trend that the first student had set up. I think we all wanted to become closer to this man, who can inspire us to, as cliché as it is, make something of ourselves.
Dunst is now a successful businessman here in San Diego and knowingly bragged about his triumph. I think he just wants us to realize the freedom that we have here in this world and to not let it slip through our fingertips.