We
honor the memory of the sage Simon Wiesenthal, the great fighter,
humanitarian, and true hero to all freedom loving people around the
world who died this Tuesday September 20, 2005.
Heroes are never about themselves, and they do not even know
they are heroes. And such is the life-affirming story of the
uniquely courageous, dedicated, humanitarian Simon Wiesenthal. We
honor the life of Simon Wiesenthal because his life served all of
humanity. There is a singular lesson learned in the effort of one
lone courageous human being who devoted all of his life to bring to
justice individuals who committed atrocious crimes. Thus we bear
witness to the heroic life-work of Simon Wiesenthal in hunting down
Nazi brutal military and civilian leaders responsible for the
Holocaust where over six million Jews and as many non-Jews were
butchered dehumanized, starved, and murdered by Hitler�s death
machinery of state.
The
greatest and lasting harm done to any civilization or people is when
such civilization or people allow the atrocities committed by brutal
dictators and their state mechanism go unpunished or unchallenged
after such heinous dictators and their state mechanism is
overthrown. We often see in our contemporary history ousted brutal
dictators still living a life of luxury protected by other brutal
dictators in countries far from the states and people they have
destroyed and brutalized. In our own history, Mugabi of Zimbabwe is
still protecting the brutal Mengistu Hailemariam who had murdered
and dehumanized tens of thousands of Ethiopians during his reign of
terror from 1976 to 1991. Not to bring criminal dictators and
leaders to justice for their �crimes against humanity� is no
different from participation after the fact in such crimes. Simon
Wiesenthal, We celebrate your life, and your life will always be a
shinning guide to all of us who struggle for justice and human
dignity everywhere. Tecola Hagos
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