Past, Present, and Future

Manya Brachear wrote an inspiring and well evidenced article about the opening of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. She began by quoting Rev. Scott Matheney, chaplain at Elmhurst College. Matheney was one of about 100 clergy members who toured the Museum one Friday afternoon soon after the museum’s opening. The Reverend leads the reader to adopt a spiritual perspective about the historical museum. This perspective is continued by the museum’s executive director Rick Hirschhaut who said that the goal of the exhibit is to take visitors on a journey of self-evaluation in light of the events of the past, highlighting the acts of heroism amidst acts of terror and celebrating the possibilities of human who act with integrity.
Brachear then turns the focus from the past and present towards the future, by highlighting events that will occur as a response to the opening of the museum. Youth United for Darfur, one of 40 Chicago student groups raising money for young Sudanese victims of violence, predicted at a rally at the celebration of the opening of the museum, that together they will be able to raise $15,000.
With all of these components, the article commemorates the past with a present event while asking readers to look to the future. The single weakness of the sobering article is that, despite opening with a quote from Rev. Matheney, there is not much of a religious focus so much as a focus on social justice. Brachear does end however with a quote from Eboo Patel, the executive director of Interfaith Youth Core. Speaking of the Holocaust Museum, Eboo quotes Martin Luther King Jr. in saying, “Because of this institution, there will be a generation of righteous people.” This quote again draws on the past by reminding readers of a movement of great social change while inspiring them to continue this tradition of promoting justice in the future.