The Hollow Men at Dachau

T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" (excerpt)

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

In death's dream kingdom

These do not appear:

There, the eyes are

Sunlight on a broken column

There, is a tree swinging

And voices are

In the wind's singing

More distant and more solemn

Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer

In death's dream kingdom

Let me also wear

Such deliberate disguises

Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves

In a field 

Behaving as the wind behaves

No nearer--

Not that final meeting

In the twilight kingdom

.....

In this last of meeting places

We grope together

And avoid speech

Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless

The eyes reappear

As the perpetual star

Multifoliate rose

Of death's twilight kingdom

The hope only

Of empty men.

Good poetry says more than words can express. 

Dachau itself exudes sadness, pain, loneliness, fear, conformity, cruelty, hypocrisy, infamy: the worst of humanity. But in the midst of all evil, glimmers of hope and love always exist. The hope that we never allow uniform hatred such power again. The hope that we remember the small (to us in our cushioned world, but huge in their oppressive world) acts of kindness and selflessness. The hope that we not only decry cruelty and discrimination by others, but hold ourselves accountable to never portray the same message, even if on a minuscule level.

Just as the potential for unimaginable depravity exists in us all, the potential for courage, kindness, generosity, compassion, and empathy also exists in us all. We must choose, whether we want to or not. Daily, hourly. Be inspired to love.