How the Holocaust Changed My Life

I was about 12 one summer, sitting under the lilac tree in the yard, reading Anne Frank when I finished it, wept, and reflected why were people so mean to each other. A thought entered my mind, one of the few quotes from the Bible I had heard: "the meek shall inherit the earth."

I thought about this. A fierce passion grew in me. I decided that when I found out who the meek were, I would join them. At that time, I was thinking in terms of "meek", meaning, people who are not mean to each other, people who do not seek to dominate or control each other, and people who mean to work together in peace to make the world better, not worse.

Now I see "meek" also as a humble understanding of one's relationship to God.

What I did as a teenager was read everything I could get my hands on about the Holocaust, although I don't think the books I read called it that. I moved on gradually to other causes, for example, my astonishment when I discovered that Japanese Americans were placed in confinement during World War II. And gradually I forgot about my vow to find and follow the "meek."

Until one day I found myself coming into a house full of happy, interesting people who called themselves "Baha'is" and saying, "I want to join."

Life has never been the same.