Is there a Conscience of the World?


Today, the New York Times posted a story about an Arab Israeli who wore a yarmulke in Berlin to show that it would be safe to do now. Within a short time, he was attacked in a hate crime.  At Yom HaShoah services, a lead speaker mentioned that a rabbi in Paris is advising his congregants not to wear the kippah outside of their home and shul. Antisemitism still exists.  So does Islamophobia, and so do political plans to create a wall to block Mexicans from entering the US. Hatred and fear have not disappeared.  And refugees still seek shelter in droves. America's doors are still largely closed to those in need.  
Just a year ago, I spent days and days at New York area airports translating between Persian and English for passengers stranded with the sudden immigrant ban. The ACLU needed my help, and I was there.  When colleagues asked me why I took my personal days to help, I answered that we cannot return to 1933. They accused me of summoning the Holocaust for unlinked reasons, just as in debate club we urge students not to compare anything to Hitler.  I didn't see it that way.  I think about Martin Niemöller's quote about "First they came...." and I need to live by that.  Because the Holocaust happened, we need to know about the lows of human nature and guard against that. 
Is there a conscience of the world?  At the beginning of the course, I spoke about Kant's universal laws.  Now, I think about Nietzche:
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?  (The Gay Science, Section 125).
Yes, there is a conscience of the world.  But sometimes it is asleep-- not dead. Sometimes, the conscience of the world appears dead.  There are those who need to become that conscience to keep it alive, to be worthy of the life we have been given. We must teach this conscience to the next generations, and remember those who suffered in its absence.

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