The upside of what Wiesel is saying—the silver lining of the storm cloud "indifference kills"—is that action and compassion can save lives.

Take the Righteous Gentiles:

But then, there were human beings who were sensitive to our tragedy. Those non-Jews, those Christians, we call the "Righteous Gentiles," whose selfless act of heroism saved the honor of their faith. Why were they so few? (93-95)

These Righteous Gentiles are people like Miep Gies, who helped hide the Frank family in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. (You probably remember her from The Diary of Anne Frank.) Or Oskar Schindler, of Schindler's List fame. Or Irena Sendler, who saved 2,500 Jewish children. (Check out these famous rescuers—you should learn about some of these remarkable people.)

So what do they symbolize, besides humanity at its best?

The fact that one person can make a dang difference—some of these Righteous Gentiles saved thousands of people. And we aren't just talking about saving them in a physical sense, as in saving them from death. The people aided by these Righteous Gentiles survived the Holocaust without feeling completely abandoned by humanity; they knew that there were good people in the world.

Indifference is a powerful force…but not as powerful as truly compassionate action.