Never Be a Bystander

Throughout the course Facing History in Ourselves there are many lessons meant to be learned and many opportunities to explore personal growth and opinions. For me the most important lesson I learned was to not be a bystander in life, no matter what situations you face. I believe that no one should ever stand by and let someone be hurt or harassed. Throughout the course we have gone through many readings, videos, and discussions based emphasizing the victimization of the Jews during the Nazi reign. After internalizing large amounts of information of the lives the Jews had to endure and the pain and suffering they felt, the class related it all back to the basic idea behind bullying. It has become clear to me from my growth from the lessons in the class that the best way to live is to not be a bystander. The best way to teach someone how important it is to not be a bystander is to show them how intense victimization can be. Seeing how much pain and suffering people cause their victims can be so intense that it will make anyone in the right mind want to never allow that pain to be caused around them.

The movie we saw called “The Nazis, A Warning from History” was a movie we watched in different parts and sections. One section that truly stood out to me was “The Gestapo” section. This part showed how people were hired to “rat out” Jewish people that were hiding form the SS soldiers of the Nazi Reign. These people were not bystanders or saviors, but they were perpetrators. Feel as though this was such an important section of the class to see, proving how willing the Germans were to give up the Jews and pretty much put them to their death and suffering. One scene that especially stuck out was where a reporter asked a woman if she remembered ratting out her neighbors through letters she sent to the Gestapo. When she was asked she acted like she had no idea what he was talking about, but she did confirm that it was her signature on the letter and that she did have Jewish neighbors. I think that it is very influential to see how easily it was for German people to throw the Jews under the bus instead of standing up and helping them. Watching people be perpetrators emphasizes the want to not be a bystander, but stand up against the perpetrators and defend the helpless.

We recently saw two videos with original footage of what the SS and US soldiers saw when they entered the concentration camps all over Europe. The footage showed the victims, the living conditions, the pain and the death they felt. The sights were horrific and traumatizing, the living conditions the Jewish people lived in were disgusting and unlivable. Seeing the starvation the people endured was shocking. No person should ever be that skinny, and no bodies should be that mangled. The worst part was watching the people be killed, burned, and lying all over the floor. The SS showed no remorse by the utter lack of respect they treated the dead when they dragged them to the large graves. Watching human beings stand there and slowly kill thousands of people with not an ounce of regret is unbelievable and life changing. Seeing how intensely wrong things can happen when no one steps in and stops the bad guys, when no one tries to save all the victims, it shows how important standing up for what is right is. I believe that these intense sets of footage are perfect to explain how easily victims can be taken advantage of, and through that explanation people can learn how they need to stand up and stop it.

The discussion we had based on the bullying in school and the nationwide issues we are dealing with on the issue was a great way to talk about what can be done and how the problems should be fixed. We talked about anti-bullying law the country passed and how the Massachusetts plans on using the law to fix the bullying problems. The law went into detail on how the plan was focus the anti-bullying defense on teaching the bullies why it is bad. The plan mentioned the idea of teaching people not to just stand there and watch bullying but to stand up for the victim and help them. The ways of standing up for the victim can be in the moment, or told to a teacher or other person of importance. Our class had a discussion based on whether or not students witness bullying and if so are they bystanders or do they try to help the victims. Many classmates felt that the best way to stop bullying was not to teach bullies, but to teach bystanders. I felt that I learned to never be a bystander due to the intense feeling of pain towards the victims we learn about in this class. Many say that bystanders should be told it is ok to tell on bullies and it is the right thing to do to, but no matter how much that is said it will not be followed through. Some people may listen but not enough to try to change the amount of bullying. I expressed my feelings that showing bystanders how bad bullying can become is the best way to prove how important it is stop it.

Through the Class Facing History in Ourselves many lessons and opinions are learned and expressed. For me the biggest lesson I learned and will never forget is to never live life as a bystander. This is one of the most important lessons I feel a person can learn. When people live life as a bystander they allow for victims to be victimized and bullies to succeed at bullying. This class showed films that have proved how easy it was for people to be perpetrators and how bad life can be for those victimized. The discussions on the subject imprinted the idea to not be a bystander and by showing students how intense victimization can become is the best way to show students how important it is to not be a bystander. This class taught me a life lesson I will never forget and hopefully learning this lesson will affect all those that enter my life.