My grandmother is Jewish and spent the war in hiding . She lost the vast majority of her extended family in the Holocaust . She never talks about the war . It ' s a huge trauma . As her grandson I always tried to honor her Jewish heritage but her opinion is that ideology only leads to suffering . When my grandmother ' s family came back home after the war they were surprised to find they had to pay 4 years worth of home ownership taxes . The Dutch government couldn ' t give a fuck about the fact that these people and many more families like my grandmother ' s had to flee for their lifes , and lost family and friends . I ' ve always tried to strife to become succesful with the knowledge of what my grandmother went through , and all I can say is that this is not the right motivation if you want to do something with your life . It will only leave you empty and unsatisfied . I ' m beginning to think that my grandmother made the right choice to shut off and forget the past , live in the moment and enjoy life without feeling guilt or remorse constantly . It ' s personal and different for everyone , but I wouldn ' t say that the suffering of other generations and groups of people are a good motivation to be a better person . Don ' t let this boy become your nightmare and fill you with guilt every time you enjoy yourself . You only live once , it would be a tremendous waste . Thanks for sharing though .