Brief Summary
The Set-Up
You know how World War II was known as "the last good war"? Because everyone was fighting for the right reasons, and no one actually believed things could get worse than genocide and a couple of atomic bombs?
Yeah. Well, the rest of the 20th century heard that, chuckled, and said, "Hold my beer?"
In other words, things didn't exactly get better in the years following World War II—and to add insult to injury, the very things millions of Allied soldiers died to prevent seemed to repeat themselves. Minority populations fell victim to genocide. Countries fought bloody wars over border disputes and religious differences. The Cold War was considered "cold" for more than one reason.
The Text
Elie Wiesel was imprisoned at both Auschwitz and Buchenwald, and he lost both of his parents and his younger sister at the hands of the Nazis. The man saw unbelievable and almost unimaginable horrors, and he suffered tremendously.
But he survived.
And when Buchenwald was liberated by American forces, he saw the look of shock and dismay in their eyes when they saw the realities of the camps. He believed the world would learn from the Holocaust, and there would be no more atrocities and no more genocide.
But that wasn't the case. The rest of the 20th century seemed dismally similar to the first half: rife with suffering and hatred. And, at the dawn of the 21st century, Wiesel couldn't help but wonder what the next 100 years would look like.
Wiesel pointed out that in the five decades since the Holocaust, countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa had been torn apart by genocide, civil war, and religious intolerance. And while the United States and other Western nations weren't the only ones doing the fighting, choosing to ignore what was going on clearly wasn't making things any better.
Wiesel understood why indifference might be tempting. It seems safer, and it doesn't put a hitch in your giddy-up—your life moves forward as usual. But for the people suffering, who are losing their homes and their families? There's nothing worse than feeling forgotten or left behind by the rest of the world, and Wiesel knew what that was like—and he knew that it just gives the bad guys more power. The American liberators saw that when they came to Buchenwald in 1945, and according to Wiesel, we need to see it now.
TL;DR
To paraphrase Rhett: "Frankly, my dear, you have to give a damn."