It's always amazing to me how much we "normalize" our own experiences -- until and unless someone else's voice comes in and touches us.
That's why, in part being around people who are different races, or ethnicities, or have less money than you do, is so crucially important.
Otherwise, sometimes, you create a world in your own image.
In this brief venture into the genocidal horrors of the 20th-century, I was shaken and touched by the burdens other people bear. But, in a way, I also found comfort in the fact we aren't alone.
In the telling of the story, there is catharsis. However momentary, it makes us feel part of the greater human family -- and to be advocates for people in danger because a bigot, or a nationalist, a zealot or a fool, judges that they do not "fit."
http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/913129_Column--Three-families-touched-by-genocide.html
