Here Is Where It Begins--Danielle Sargent

My name is Danielle Sargent and I am a sophmore at Iona College.  I am a psychology major focusing in clinical psychology for adolescents.  In a couple of days, I will be leaving on a trip across the Atlantic to Poland!  It has not even registered yet that I will be traveling so far away to a place with such immense history.  I have thought about what Auschwitz might be like, and the only thing that I could imagine is that every step will be heavy.  I would be standing right where a Nazi or victim of the Holocaust could have stood.  It is something that is very hard to process.

Ever since elementary school when my class read The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, I was faced with a never satisfied thirst for the subject.  There is so much to learn about the Holocaust and so many aspects of it to explore.  That book was one of the most amazing and one of the most horrible books I read, all at the same time.  It was written very well and I could barely put it down (and for a sixth grader to want to do their reading assignment is a big deal).  However, the images that were portrayed in the book were awful.  I could not even imagine being in the shoes of a survivor.  It is beyond words what they must have felt to experience something of this magnitude. 

However, this past Saturday, my class had the opportunity to meet a Holocaust survivor, Stan Ronell.  Just from speaking with him, you would not be able to tell that he was 'different' from anyone else.   He smiles the same, laughs the same, and even speaks the same.  Knowing this, it is hard for me to understand why he was put through so much in his life.  He is just the same as everyone else.  However, I did enjoy hearing his story knowing that he had the strength to overcome it all and still make something of himself.  He is truly an inspiration.

I am looking forward to going to Poland just to see through my own eyes what the camp is like.  I am also looking forward to keeping a blog to document my experiences!