After a busy morning of meetings, on Wednesday Senator Barack Obama toured Yad Vashem, just outside Jerusalem.
Yad Vashem being a hallowed museum dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and its victims.
Senator Obama laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance, and shared his thoughts in a hand-written message of his own words, as customary of foreign dignitaries, in the museum's guest book:
For those having difficulty making out the words, it reads:
I am grateful to Yad Vashem and all of those responsible for this remarkable institution.
At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man’s potential for great evil, but also our capacity to rise from tragedy and remake our world. Let our children come here, and know this history, so they can add their voices to proclaim “never again”. And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.
Barack Obama
This man's grace is truly humbling. And for my dear Jewish brothers and sisters, may you know his words of remembrance and compassion are echoed in every corner of the African-American community as we too honor your history, recognize the needless suffering your people experienced and look toward cutting away at the tree that roots it's base in anti-semitism and prejudice that pits religious or racial divides among the human species.
