27th of January A Day of Remembrance

by Liv Jakobi

What do we remember?

Today 57 years ago, the Red Army reached the concentration camps in Auschwitz. They freed the survivors of the Holocaust. More than one million people lost their lives to the German Nazis, among them were disabled, Sinti and Romans, homosexuals, the allegedly “asocial,” “criminals,” and Jews. Those people went through unimaginable circumstances. Today we remember what happened and what can never happen again. 

Importance of remembrance 

To reflect on the past is to learn for the future. Often we forget what God has done for us and we become ungrateful. But He wants us to remember Him. 

“3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.“

Moroni 10:3

We need to remember the things He did for us. How the people of Moses were freed from the hand of the Egyptians and the Jews and other victims of the Holocaust were freed from the Red Army.

Remember!

We shall remember what has been given to us so we can find joy in the things we have. 

God gave us prophets to lead us on this Earth today. He gave us families to bless us. He gave His Son so we can be free from sin. He gave us history so we can learn from it. 

It is my hope that we shall not forget that we are one human race with one purpose on Earth. The more I learn, the more I see the truth that we are the same. I believe that it does not matter color, religion, race, or nationality. Let us find similarities instead of differences. The mistake of the past was the ignorance of man, in my opinion. Those who do not remember the lessons of the past and how much God has done to help them–I believe–will likely find themselves caught in the same snare many found themselves in as recorded in the Book of Mormon. When man forgets God, he becomes wicked.

“8 Behold, O ye wicked and perverse generation, how have ye forgotten the tradition of your fathers; yea, how soon ye have forgotten the commandments of God.”

10 And have ye forgotten so soon how many times he delivered our fathers out of the hands of their enemies, and preserved them from being destroyed, even by the hands of their own brethren?

Alma 9:8, 10

When we remember what God has done for us, I have noticed, we stay focused on the Lord and remember the things he did for us. When we remember the past we will have a better future.

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” 

– George Santayana