In the closing moments of the video series The Ascent of Man, the Jewish philosopher James Bronowski walks out into a pond. Around him are the remnants of old battlements and buildings now uninhabited. "This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz," he explains. "This is where people were turned into numbers."
As his expensive loafers are completely submerged under the surface of the pond, he gets down on his haunches, reaches down into the water, and with both hands brings up dark-colored mud, the color of coal and ash.
"Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave."
With the release of Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ fast upon us, a great anxiety is striking at the hearts of many people, especially those familar with the sights and sounds of those many dark and torturous years not yet forgotten to them. They are years we as humanity promised we would never forget nor let the likes of happen again. And yet, here we are.
