We Must Always Take Side By Elie Wiesel

When a person first reads the famous quote “We must always take side. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Spoken by the notable Elie Wiesel while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize of 1986, it could cause a reaction; in this case any reaction could occur depending on a person’s morals, ethics and even values. But, what does this quote really mean? Does it define the horrific situations that Rwanda, the Nazi’s, or Syria went through or is it a lesson that needs to be taught worldwide? In my opinion it’s a lesson that needs to be taught and focused on throughout the world to decrease the severity of all the horrific problems that are still occurring till this day. In my opinion, I believe this quote along with the research that I have done to fully understand and adhere to the true meaning of it has taught me things that I don’t know about ethical situations and most importantly myself. The Rwandan Genocide that
The United Nations was informed of this brutal yet crucial conflict between the two groups but no actions were taking to prevent any of this happening, but why? Why didn’t any of the United Nation officials speak up and inform the board of officials that something was needed to be done to stop what was occurring to reduce the death of several loved ones? Why did they allow silence, which happens to encourage the tormentor to do more killing without any consequences coming to them? It isn’t fair that these innocent lives got taken away; newborns fresh out of the womb were killed just for being named as a Tutsi but is quite clueless to what is going on. Just attempting to save the lives of their community members killed benevolent active leaders, but the question still remains