Oh how far we've not come

Today, 10,000 people marched in Poland starting in Auschwitz to remember the 6 million lives that perished in during the Holocaust. I'm not Jewish, Polish, or any other heritage that suffered from the Nazis' attack during World War II. As a matter of fact, my grandmother on my mom's side was German, and escaped during the war when she was in her mid-20's to come to America with the love of her life (my grandfather, who was British). I cannot help but be moved by this though. I wish I could walk with them. To think of the hatred of one man, that multiplied, conquered and killed so many innocent people. Have we really moved forward from this event? In Europe they have grown from it, but have we, as Americans, grown? Doesn't seem like it to me. We still separate Californians from New Yorkers. We still (and I use "we" a little loosely, as I understand that not every American feels this way but the majority do) think of Southerners as a different "breed of people". There is still so much hatred toward blacks from white people. Hatred from black people to white people. Hatred about Hispanics celebrating their culture here. Hatred about Iraq and Iran and so many Middle Eastern countries. Have we really evolved? I was reading a blog by Sher and it made mention of the rapes in the Congo. So many Americans are completely unaware or unfazed by this. It's disgusting. Or the rice shortage in East, there are families who are skipping meals for multiple days straight. That's a nice way to say, there are families that are starving. This makes me so sad. I wish I could do more than I already do. I wish I could make more American people aware and have them become pro-active about all this instead of silly things like Miley Cyrus' Vogue pictures or who got kicked off American Idol.