Survivors and Holocaust Awareness Day (2 topics)

Survivors and Holocaust Awareness Day

So this year when the field trip was offered to attend the Holocaust Awareness Day I was absolutely enthused. The Holocaust was a horrific event in the past and every one should be educated about what happened so it never happens again. I was so glad to see the turnout at the convention center, and the many intrigued people at my table. I remember listening to a girl’s story about how she only wanted to get out of school for the day and she had no idea what the field trip was about, and at the end of the day the Holocaust Awareness Day had definitely affected her greatly. Before that day, she had no interest and just thought of it as just a “whatever” kind of thing. She was the girl that was the second most emotional at the table (I think I won the most tears cried and the girl who sobbed the most award). Our Holocaust survivor, Bela, was such a young soul; he told us his story with humor and he told us about the positive mindset he had throughout the Holocaust. He has lived a long and prosperous life because of his optimism; he’s a 96 year old man and still plays tennis every other day. I can say I’ve been through many bumps in life, just like many people, but honestly not as extreme and horrific as the Holocaust. I’ve always been the pessimist during any negative situation and I could never look past the negatives and look for the positive aspect in the situation. Bela changed that for me; Bela taught me that no matter how hard things get, there is always something positive in the situation and I should simply live life to the fullest, with a big smile on my face knowing that there’s a rainbow after every hurricane. I have heard two other Holocaust survivors’ story before I heard Bela’s, each of who experienced a tough time.

When Mr. Offenbach came to our school, that was also a very interesting experience as well. Mr. Offenbach brought an interesting story to our auditorium; he shared his vivid memories of when he was in the war. He shared that everything was taken from him, and he worked very hard to get through the war and bring himself to a place to provide food, and an education for his daughters. I remember him telling us that education is the most important thing for anyone. He didn’t go to college and he didn’t obtain much knowledge but it was important for today’s young generation to obtain an education. I couldn’t agree more with him, because when one person is educated and knowledgeable there is more tolerance to go around the world. Here is where I want to tie in the term “intolerance”. There was and still is so much intolerance around the world, when people can’t appreciate the different cultures and backgrounds which makes this world a melting pot, bad things like bullying and genocide occurs. If people were to consider the slightest differences of others, we wouldn’t have so many problems in the world. During The Holocaust, there was much intolerance when minorities and groups of people who didn’t fit in were persecuted because of their differences.

They all made me realize that the stupid problems in school and with friends are all dumb and they’re not worth my energy. There are so many other problems in the world, on a grander scale, and I’m here worrying about nothing. I realized that for a teenager I have a lot to be thankful for, I have had a great childhood unlike the many Holocaust victims who didn’t get the chance to be children, I have a family around me, I have a synagogue to go to every Shabbat, I have many things that many children didn’t have during the Holocaust. All together this has taught me to pass this on to many of my friends and family, reminding them of how lucky we are to be living a free life and reminding them of the disgusting event in history because of ignorance and prejudice of different kinds of people.