The History of Death and Burial Customs

The History of Death and Burial Customs Death has always been both celebrated and feared. As far back as 60,000 BCE, humans buried their dead with ritual and ceremony. Researchers have even found evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers, much as we do today. Appeasing the Spirits Many early burial rites and customs were practiced to protect the living, by appeasing the spirits who were thought to have caused the persons death. Such ghost protection rituals and superstitions have varied extensively with time and place, as well as with religious perception, but many are still in use today. The custom of shutting the eyes of the deceased is believed to have begun this way, done in an attempt to close a window from the living world to the spirit world. Covering the face of the deceased with a sheet comes from pagan beliefs that the spirit of the deceased escaped through the mouth. In some cultures, the home of the deceased was burned or destroyed to keep his spirit from returning; in other,s the doors were unlocked and windows were opened to ensure that the soul was able to escape. In 19th century Europe and America, the dead were carried out of the house feet first, in order to prevent the spirit from looking back into the house and beckoning another member of the family to follow him, or so that he couldnt see where he was going and would be unable to return. Mirrors were also covered, usually with black crepe, so the soul would not get trapped and be left unable to pass to the other side. Family photographs were also sometimes turned face-down to prevent any of the close relatives and friends of the deceased from being possessed by the spirit of the dead. Some cultures took their fear of ghosts to an extreme. The Saxons of early England cut off the feet of their dead so the corpse would be unable to walk. Some aborigine tribes took the even more unusual step of cutting off the head of the dead, thinking this would leave the spirit too busy searching for his head to worry about the living. Cemetery Burial Cemeteries, the final stop on our journey from this world to the next, are monuments (pun intended!) to some of the most unusual rituals to ward off spirits, and home to some of our darkest, most terrifying legends and lore. The use of tombstones may go back to the belief that ghosts could be weighed down. Mazes found at the entrance to many ancient tombs are thought to have been constructed to keep the deceased from returning to the world as a spirit, since it was believed that ghosts could only travel in a straight line. Some people even considered it necessary for the funeral procession to return from the graveside by a different path from the one taken in with the deceased, so that the departeds ghost wouldnt be able to follow them home. Some of the rituals which we now practice as a sign of respect to the deceased, may also be rooted in a fear of spirits. Beating on the grave, the firing of guns, funeral bells, and wailing chants were all used by some cultures to scare away other ghosts at the cemetery. In many cemeteries, the vast majority of graves are oriented in such a manner that the bodies lie with their heads to the West and their feet to the East. This very old custom appears to originate with the Pagan sun worshippers, but is primarily attributed to Christians who believe that the final summons to Judgment will come from the East. Some Mongolian and Tibetan cultures are famous for practicing sky burial, placing the body of the deceased on a high, unprotected place to be consumed by wildlife and the elements. This is part of the Vajrayana Buddhist belief of transmigration of spirits, which teaches that respecting the body after death is needless as it is just an empty vessel.

The Home As Foundation For Behavioral Development. Major Causes Of Essay

The Home As Foundation For Behavioral Development. Major Causes Of Mis-Behaviors - Essay Example How effective the execution of their rights on the outside world depends on how intact their family system is and how they both practice their rights. This is where we based who is to blame or accredit the behaviors of one against the other, together with one another, or with the entire society they belong. Laws govern boundaries of behaviors in an organized society. In the case of most developed countries 18 years is the age where parents are put in custody of the child. During this stage it is assumed, in the absence of specific laws, that the parents have the right and obligations to take action, within the bounds of the law, to guide and discipline the child according to what the parents deemed necessary for the betterment of the child. Within the parental custody age of 0 to 18, if the parents fall short of expectations and remiss in the physiological, psychological, and social development needs of the child or juvenile, they share the burden and repercussions of the child's or juvenile's actions. Other person can sue the parents, or the children themselves can sue their parents if they found probable cause. Many countries today are focusing on basic social protection of the child's rights that resorted to even penalizing the erring parents and take custody of the juvenile.

Environment issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environment issue - Essay Example They have various remarkable properties due to which people prefer using them as compared to paper bags. Their production is cheaper. These are light weight, easy to carry around, cost-efficient and durable, and the consumer as such does not see any harm using them in packing their stuff. We use them during our shopping spree. We put eatables in them and put them in our refrigerators. We store things in them so that they remain safe for years. We line our bathroom bins with them. Plastic bags are all over our environment. We see plastic bags blowing around on streets and in the waters. We see them clustered together at a place blocking the sewage lines. And we see people collecting their litter in the plastic bags and throwing them in garbage cans. 3. Problems with the usage of Plastic Bags 3.1. Damage to the Environment Often, we see someone collecting plastic bags and burning them. But do they disappear? No, and this is what is the biggest problem with these plastic bags. They do n ot disappear and they cannot be recycled into something else. They are made up of polyethylene which is a non-degradable material and just changes its shape when burnt but does not change its form. It is believed that a plastic bag takes thousands of years to decay entirely. So, it continues to be present in our surroundings as a permanent problem. The hitch actually arises when people do not dispose of the plastic bags properly. This is this unethical disposal that becomes the real trouble for the environment. â€Å"6.9 billion bags† are used in the world every year, and almost â€Å"30 million† of them end up clustering at dumpsites per year (James & Grant 2005:1). The aesthetic view of the surroundings also gets spoiled. 3.2. Air Pollution Burning them at dumpsites eliminates hazardous chemicals such as dioxins and furans, which get inhaled by people thus damaging their health. Since these chemicals are toxic, they pose threats to the human body and give rise to dis eases resulting from air pollution. Dioxins and furans are chemicals which are believed to destroy the purity of air and this fact is internationally accepted. 3.3. Hazards for Sea Life With increase in the usage of plastic bags, the marine environment is being forced to accept increased quantities of plastic debris. When the used plastic bags get clustered over rivers and seas, they become a hazard for marine mammals, fish, seabirds, crustaceans and turtles that ingest them or get entangled, and then die because of suffocation. â€Å"Ingested plastics may block digestive tracts, damage stomach linings, or lessen feeding drives† (Laist 2006:319). 3.4. Suffocation Plastic bags have also been found of being responsible for taking lives of many infants who put them on their faces and inside their mouths or nostrils, and may die of suffocation because plastic bags are air-tight. 3.5. Blockage of Drainage System Plastic bags can also block the drainage system which damages sanitat ion. Dirty water starts oozing out of the drains on the streets and into the houses in cities where drainage system is already not properly implemented. Flies and mosquitoes breed in this water and then they bring dirt onto the eatables which when digested by human beings makes them ill with diseases like cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, and

The issue of corporporate responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The issue of corporporate responsibility - Essay Example Sustainability, at its core, reflects a more integrated and efficient management structure that would be adept to weather the economic downturn. Quoting from the World Economic Forum report, Smith (2003) elucidates three key pressures that impel businesses to incorporate CSR viz.: linkages between corporate competitiveness, corporate governance, and corporate citizenship. a) Every business decision should embed the sustainability criteria: Porter and Kramer (2006) articulate: "the essential test that should guide CSR, is not whether a cause is worthy, but whether, it presents an opportunity to create shared value, that is, a meaningful benefit for society that also is valuable to the business." The Patagonia's mission statement captures strategic alignment of CSR with business: b) Build Brand through total wealth creation: Businesses ought to maximize the wealth all stakeholders through effective community investment and poverty alleviation programs. The wealth creation should be woven around green policies through innovative projects that protect environmental assets for the long term. c) Develop environmental projects focusing on economic exclusion: There's an urgent need for companies to refocus on their corporate responsibility to produce a pronounced positive impact on environment protection, and especially target eco... c) Develop environmental projects focusing on economic exclusion: There's an urgent need for companies to refocus on their corporate responsibility to produce a pronounced positive impact on environment protection, and especially target economically deprived areas for holistic growth. d) Partner More effectively: Partnering with government and NGOs can ease to an extent, the project funding issues, and dovetail the company's businesses with national growth strategies. Such an approach would also bring credibility for activities, and help gain public trust. e) Focus on governance and accountability: Especially in times of recession, the scrutinizing eyes of media, shareholders and government would continue to hover on companies, demanding transparency and accountability. Guarnieri and Kao (2008) noted that the 2007 Top Companies for Leaders are poignantly strategic and use CSR to help attract, engage and retain leadership talent. Leaders in such companies are encouraged to take leadership roles in social and community organizations. CSR thus becomes a critical component for leadership development strategy. CSR can be the best starting point for integrating societal considerations with business operations (Porter, & Kramer, 2006). Especially, in economically hard times, companies would be forced to reflect on their core priority businesses, and customers. In such situations, sustainability programmes can help to sieve the strategic business areas, and relook at the supply chain management with a "sustainability screening policy." Corporate responsibility can thus help pruning overheads, and effect cost savings through carbon accounting. Conflict between Luxury Branding and Environmental Concern Pinault spearheading the case for sustainable luxury believes that

Antibiotics Before Cultures in Septic Suspected Patients

Antibiotics Before Cultures in Septic Suspected Patients No More Waiting Antibiotics Before Cultures in Septic Suspected Patients Shannin Pierce Introduction Identifying the Issue September, 21 2013 was an abnormally busy day at Northeast Clark Hospital. At 6:45 AM, 63 year old Mr. Davis Jones, present to the emergency department with a fever of 102.6, heart rate of 110 beats per minute, and a respiratory rate of 22. His blood pressure is 91/63. He is weak and lethargic. His wife tells staff that during the past week he has been sleeping more than usual and not eating or drinking much. She suspects he has come down with the flu that has been going around. Mr. Jones is sent to a room and asked to put on a gown and informed that the doctor will be right in to see him. At 7:00, the night shift nurse reports off the dayshift nurse of all of her patients, but fails to inform the dayshift nurse that Mr. Jones has yet to have cultures collected. At 7:15, the dayshift nurse checks on Mr. Jones who is comfortably sleeping in the hospital bed with his wife by his side. Vital have not changed since admission. She continues to the next patient. At 7:30 AM she rechecks on Mr. Jones and realizes that he has yet to have cultures drawn and collects the supplies. Cultures are collected at 7:45 AM and sent to the lab. At 8:00 lab results show WBC 16,000. The nurse reports the findings immediately to the attending physician, who orders intravenous (IV) antibiotics and fluids. Pharmacy sends up the antibiotics at 8:30 AM and the nurse begins infusion at 8:45 AM. At 9:00 AM, Mr. Joness blood pressure drops to 58/42, heart rate soars to 160 beats per minute, and he is unconscious and unresponsive. The staff frantically rushes to infuse IV fluid into Mr. Jones but he goes into cardiac arrest. All resuscitation attempts are made, but at 9:45, Mr. Jones is pronounced dead. Sepsis and bloodstream infections have become a major cause of hospitalization and death in the United States. In these situations it is a standard protocol to collect blood cultures before administration of antibiotic, however, this can often delay the treatment needed to reduce the chance of death of patients with septicemia. With new advances in culture collection technology, blood culture collection containers now contain antimicrobial removal media, which makes it no longer necessary to delay treatment of antibiotics in order to wait for untreated blood specimens to be collected. By using the antimicrobial removal media enriched blood collection containers for all patients with suspected sepsis, antibiotic treatment can be initiated faster, hospital stays will be shorter, cost of care will be decreased, and fewer people will die due to septicemia. Analysis of the Current Situation Currently, standard protocol for septic suspected patients is for blood cultures to be collected from two different ventipuncture sites before the initiation of any antibiotic therapy using aseptic technique. It is also recommended that antibiotic therapy be initiated within one hour of onset of septicemia. According to a research study by Anand Kumar (2006), every hour of delay in antimicrobial therapy result in an increase in mortality of 7.6%. While the majority of hospital facilities strive to achieve the goal of cultures and antimicrobial therapy within the one hour time frame, the reality is that very few are actually successful. It is estimated that only about 12% of patients actually receive the antimicrobial therapy within the first hour (Daniels, 2011). To make matters worse, emergency departments struggle with overcrowding. According to hospitalstats.org, the median emergency department wait time in the Clark County Valley is 3 hours 25 minutes (Hospital Stats, 2014). Identifying the signs and symptoms of sepsis is a huge barrier to providing timely treatment. Another huge problem with the standard protocol for cultures before antibiotic therapy is that 50% to 82% of patients presenting to the emergency or intensive care facilities with suspected septicemia have already been given an antibiotic before admission and culture collection (Zadroga et al., 2013). However, with the initiation of facilities using antimicrobial removal resin blood culture containers, such as BACTEC PLUS, many of the barriers to providing timely care to septic suspected patients can be overcome. BACTEC PLUS has been proven to recover 95.1% of bacterial pathogens in blood culture samples with therapeutic levels of antimicrobial agents present, and 100% of strains in control bottles (Flayhart, Borek, Wakefield, Dick, Carroll, 2007). Leading Change It is estimated that 20,000 people die worldwide every day from sepsis (Daniels, 2011). While the use of blood culture analysis is and always will be one of the most important evidence-based microbial testing procedures for determining diagnosis of septicemia, the need to wait for cultures to be drawn before administering life saving antimicrobial therapy is unnecessary. Patients with suspected septicemia need to be receiving antimicrobial therapy within the one hour time frame, whether or not cultures have been drawn. It needs to become standard protocol that the antimicrobial therapy be initiated in that one hour time frame, and move away from the standard being cultures first. To initiate this change, it is proposed that implementation of antimicrobial therapy be initiated immediately in septic suspected patients. The Process of Change Change will being in the emergency department. All medical staff, including physicians, nurses, LPNs, CNAs, and technicians will be informed of the change to take place by having multiple conferences and training sessions over a period of time, no less than four weeks, with a minimum of three different time slots occurring near shift change to accommodate all shifts for all employees to be able to attend. All attending staff will sign an agreement contract, including the understanding of the new policy to be implemented. Once they have been fully informed and have had the opportunity to express all misunderstanding and concerns with the new policy, implementation of the policy in the department will ensue. The emergency department will be fully stocked with BACTEC blood collection containers. Quality control agents will monitor compliance of the policy to record all valid data associated, including time frames of initiation of the antimicrobial agent and blood culture analysis using the antimicrobial removal media. Most importantly, infection control will assess the outcome of patients with confirmed septicemia and will closely evaluate the new treatment plan to verify if the policy is proving to be helpful in improving the outcome of patient survival rates. Impact of Change If outcomes are positive, the facility can being to implement the policy, following the same steps already stated, to more departments and continue to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy on each department until the entire facility is using the policy. In order to initiate the change it will take a team effort. All staff will need to comply in ensuring that all septic patients are receiving the antimicrobial therapy within the one hour time frame, regardless if cultures have been drawn first or not. This will be imperative for analysis as to if the new policy is effective in reducing the mortality rate of septic patients. Conclusion Sepsis infections are going to continue to be a major cause of hospitalization, but with new protocols including ensuring administration of antibiotics in septic suspected patients within the one hour time frame of onset regardless if cultures have been collected first, we can reduce the chance of death for these patients. As medical staff, we need to use the advances in culture collection containers like BACTEC to initiate faster treatment, which will make hospital stays shorter, decrease cost of care, and most importantly, save more lives. References Daniels, R. (2011). Surviving the first hours in sepsis: getting the basics right an intensivist’s perspective. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 66(2), ii11-ii23. Retrieved from http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/content/66/suppl_2/ii11.full#ref-36 Flayhart, D., Borek, A., Wakefield, T., Dick, J., Carroll, K. (2007). Comparison of BACTEC PLUS blood culture media to BacT/Alert FA blood culture media for detection of bacterial pathogens in samples containing therapeutic levels of antibiotics. Journal of Clinical Micrbiology, 45(3), 816-821. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1829095/?report=reader Hospital Stats (2014). ER wait times in Clark County hospitals. hospitalstats.org. Retrieved from http://www.hospitalstats.org/ER-Wait-Time/Clark-County-NV.htm Kumar, A., Roberts, D., Wood, K., Light, B., Parrillo, J., Sharma, S. (2006, June). Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock. Critical Care Medicine, 34(6), 1589-1596. Retrieved from http://cel.webofknowledge.com/InboundService.do?product=CELSID=2DqQrrN9uYLqpUXhgpgUT=000237884300001SrcApp=Highwireaction=retrieveInit=YesSrcAuth=HighwirecustomersID=HighwireFunc=FrameIsProductCode=Yesmode=FullRecord Uzodimma, C., Njokanma, F., Ojo, O., Falase, M., Ojo, T. (2013, ). Bacterial isolates from blood cultures of children with suspected sepsis in an urban hospital in Lagos: a prospective study using BACTEC blood culture system. The Internet Journal of Pediatrics and Neonatology, 16(1). Retrieved from http://ispub.com/IJPN/16/1/1623 Zadroga, R., Williams, D., Gottschall, R., Hanson, K., Norberg, V., Deike, M., Hansen, G. (2013). Comparison of 2 blood culture media shows significant differences in bacterial recovery for patients on antimicrobial therapy. Oxford Journals Clinical Infectious Diseases, 56(6), 790-797. Retrieved from http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/56/6/790.full

Essay --

As time changes, so does everything else in the world. Scientists have been finding numerous ways to improve our ordinary technology and they have succeeded, but what about transportation? Over the years, scientists have improved transportation by simply thinking out of the box. Cars have evolved from being animals people ride on to automobiles people ride in. For example, the use of transportation was the use of donkeys and horses from the Middle Ages all the way to the 18th century; people loved the idea of wagons and horses because it was the easiest way to get from place to place (5). The first car to ever be made was invented by Karl Benz in 1886 and it had three wheels; Benz also built the first successful gasoline powered vehicle to ever be seen but it was very expensive (9). As the idea of cars came about, people thought it was ten times better than using wagons and horses; the car was the quicker and easier way for people to travel around. Furthermore, the first affordable car to be invented was made by Henry Ford in 1903, and it was a four-wheeler that was also a gasoline powered car; it was called the Model T, and it was very unsafe because it didn't have anything to protect the driver (10). As cars kept improving over the years, inventors and sci entists found new ways to keep people safe in their cars; the seatbelt was then invented by Nils Bohlin and it was first introduced by Volvo in 1959 (1). Since more people were buying cars, inventors and scientists wanted to make it a safer experience, so they came up with a way for people to not fly out of their cars; this surely kept the accident rate down. In less than two hundred years, transportation went from animals to vehicles; scientists have made cars safer, easier, ... ... fiberglass, and even steel (3). As boats became larger and heavier, scientists found the need to accompany those characteristics with different materials to help boats stay afloat, remain durable, and still be able to navigate. With the creation of boats, people's lives have changed and will continue to do so with the help of new technology and scientists daring to think of the unimaginable. It is not a surprise that technology has come to be as advanced as it is now but along with it, transportation has also evolved and continues to do so in the biggest way possible. From cars to boats to rockets, transportation is important for human beings to get around and it has advanced greatly with the help of scientists and regular people who chose to think bigger. Scientists are just beginning with these new inventions, so who knows what new transportation will come next.

Holocaust Denial Essay

David Irving has claimed that the Holocaust was a â€Å"hoax† and that there were no gas chambers in Auschwitz; discuss the evidence for and against this claim. â€Å"One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth.† -W.E.B Du Bois, Black Reconstruction, 1935. There could not be a more appropriate account to go with the debate between Holocaust deniers, and those who see it as a genuine event in history. From our mid teens we are taught about the events that occurred under Hitler’s reign, the most horrific of those being the mass genocide of an estimated eleven million people, many of which Jews, during the Holocaust. It is also taught that the most famous extermination camp existed at Auschwitz, where up to 10’000 people were exterminated per day. These are exactly the kind of facts that were presented to me during school, and to many others; some individuals, however, claim that this horrific event never took place. Those who claim the Holocaust did not appear as traditional history describes, believe that â€Å"the current mainstream understanding of the Holocaust is the result of a deliberate Jewish conspiracy created to advance the interest of Jews at the expense of other nations.† (1) A statement remarkably closely related to the anti-Semitic views of the Nazi’s. In the case of Holocaust deniers, it is more of a case of a lack of evidence which they use to promote their views; no conclusive evidence has been presented, with numerous Holocaust deniers admitting to have lied about so called facts. (2) The main claims which Holocaust deniers make are that the Nazis had no formal policy or plan of exterminating Jews. That Nazis did not use gas chambers to mass-murder Jews, and that the figure of between 5 and 6 million Jewish deaths is a significant exaggeration and the actual number is much lower, a few hundred thousand at most. Other claims include the notion that the documentary evidence in support of the Holocaust, photographs and the Diary of Anne Frank for example, is fabricated, that survivor testimonies are unreliable, and that the Nazi prisoners’ confessions were obtained through the use of torture – a process which can lead to inaccurate information. (3) One example of survivor testimonies being unpredictable is an excerpt of a conversation David Irving supposedly had with a survivor: â€Å"IRVING: You said you saw smoke coming from the crematoria? SURVIVOR: Absolutely IRVING: Is that correct? SURVIVOR: Correct IRVING: But crematoria do not smoke, Mrs Altman. Go and visit your local crematorium in Sydney† (Evans (2002) page 142) Irving took challenging the Holocaust to the extreme, and proclaimed himself as a Hitler supporter, which may have something to do with him living, working and studying in Germany for many years. In Irving’s book, Hitler’s War, he states â€Å"that Hitler did not order the extermination of Europe’s Jews: the mass killings must have been carried out by Himmler and his cohorts behind Hitler’s back† (4) The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) states that â€Å"The Institute does not ‘deny the Holocaust’.† And that â€Å"there is no dispute over the fact that large numbers of Jews were deported to concentration camps and ghettos, or that many Jews died or were killed during World War II.† But that the â€Å"Holocaust – the alleged extermination of some six million Jews (most of them by gassing) – is a hoax and should be recognized as such by Christians and all informed, honest and truthful men everywhere.† More than being just a pro-Nazi viewpoint, Holocaust deniers believe that the death-toll amount which is widely accepted is a falsehood in an attempt to get more compensation, and sympathy. It is believed that the interest of the Zionist movement is to augment the amount of Holocaust deaths so that their gains will be greater. (5) The Holocaust deniers maintain that the Holocaust is a myth in order to establish the possibilities which can occur when an individual or group of people try to play God. This claim may have resulted from various factors, and in many cases of a denial, a particular political agenda backs it up, along with their own personal beliefs colouring their view. To fully understand the claims of these people, both sides of the debate must be looked at. The case which acknowledges the Holocaust as it is presented has much more convincing evidence, the most notable of which being photographs, video footage and personal accounts. Where the Holocaust deniers get their supposed evidence from however, is the jigsaw in which the evidence which shows the Holocaust as the event we’re taught it to be is made up of. Those denying the event say that the pieces of primary sources which prove the existence of the Holocaust, are in fact fabricated in an attempt to make people think that certain events happened when thy in fact, did not. (1) There are many accounts from survivors of the Holocaust, a selection of which exists in Lyn Smiths â€Å"Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust†, within which mentions the implementation of the â€Å"final solution†. In the same note it is said that upon arrival, most were â€Å"sent immediately to the gas chamber and crematorium.† (6). For females in concentration camps it was an even more shocking ordeal – regularly being raped, and on giving birth having their babies taken from them to be murdered. Dennis Avey, a British prisoner of war at Auschwitz gives his account: â€Å"Now dreadful things were happening in Auschwitz-Birkenau during 1944. They were gassing and burning thousands of people who could not work any more because of their failing strength; I knew practically everything that was going on there†¦They just put them into the gas chambers using this Zyklon B gas and then they were burned. And this happened day in and day out.† (6) There are many other accounts which describe similar stories, such a vast amount of matching testimonies can not possibly be a fabrication, but that is not the only evidence which supports the events of the Holocaust and Auschwitz. There are many photographs of the gas chambers, and of mass graves. Not only is there masses of evidence recorded to verify the authenticity of the Holocaust; but it is backed up by sworn testimony from both victims and the culprits. In addition to this there is evidence which Allied soldiers discovered when they liberated the camps. There is also a host of documentary evidence; the Nazi’s were extremely particular about keeping records, some of which were presented as evidence to the Nuremberg Tribunal and a set of evidence from several post-war trials. As well as archaeological evidence as further proof, there are bookings by the SS for the ‘special trains’ to Auschwitz and other extermination camps. Of course, the issue which arises with both of these claims, and history as a whole, is that unless someone is actually present at an event and experiencing something, they have no way of knowing exactly what went on during a given time and date. It is for these reasons which we need to rely on sources other than ourselves to understand the past, and a primary source is the most reliable place to look first. Talking with a Holocaust survivor, reading the diaries like that of a certain Anne Frank hiding from the Gestapo, and looking at pictures and videos from Nazi Germany at that time allows for the closest link possible from today to the days gone by, and rejecting these ideas as a fabrication severs the best link to the truth. Holocaust deniers will be inclined to believe what they want to be true, even if it does not match up historically. The Holocaust was a dismal time not only for the Jewish race, but also a cataclysmic event in the history of mankind. The idea that not all people are equal and those of less value need to be exterminated is a notion that should never have occurred. The evidence that we have today appears to confirm that the Jewish Genocide by the Nazi people was a real event. In addition, it is extremely difficult to reasonably doubt this event and believe that people would lie about such an ordeal. References 1. Gizon, A. (2009). Holocaust. www.projectaladin.org. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 2. Nikzor, P. (2008). David Irving. www.nizkor.org. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 3. Lipstadt, D. (2009). Denying the Holocaust. www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 4. Irving, D. (1991). Hitler’s War. London: Focal Point Publications. 5. Austin, B. (2004). Holocaust Denial. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. [Last accessed 23 June 2010] 6. Smith, L. (2005). Forgotten Voices of the Holocaust. London: Ebury Press. P.156/210