It has taken me quit some
time to write my final blog, I have done a lot of reflecting on my experience
in Poland and finally have gathered all my thoughts. Traveling to Poland for a
spring break is not what you usually hear, you usually hear about college
students going to sunny paradises like Cancun or Punta Cana. However, contrary
to popular belief I would not have wanted to be in any other place for spring
break but Poland. My experience of visiting the concentration camps of
Auschwitz and Birkenau are never going to be forgotten. Seeing the barracks,
the exhibits, the monuments, the ruins of gas chambers and the overall camps
are unforgettable moments due to their historical importance. It was an honor
being able to travel to these locations and I will always hold it dear to my
heart. Kind of a strange thing to say? I know right, but after learning things
you’ve never known about the Holocaust and then being able to travel to this location
of devastation you too would at first be at a lost of words and then greatly
appreciate your own existence.
It is insane that six million people were killed but we
cannot forget about their individual personalities or identities since each person
had their own life and loved ones prior to this genocide. I was astonished with
the number six million, but then through each exhibit I saw their individual
photographs, saw their belongings and heard their individual stories. Each
person was different from one another but all sadly shared the same faith.
I related this to our last discussion with Father Manfred when he told us how important it was not to categorize people, not to be like Hitler or his followers who categorized the Jews and persecuted them. This may seem like an impossible task since many people, including myself usually do categorize people, we make stereotypes, we say hurtful things to one another or we never give a person the benefit of the doubt. This brings us to another important lesson that I learned from Father Manfred, he discussed human dignity with us. He said many people ask where was God during the Shoah, but he argues the real question is where was human dignity during the Shoah? Where was the respect for human life? He continued this discussion by highlighting how every person was made from God, how every person has good as well as evil in them. However, its up to us whether we want to be a good or bad person. Its difficult to understand this concept and took me a while to reflect on my own personality and past actions. But I came to the result that I want to better myself by being that good person, by being a good son, brother, friend and student. I want to surround myself with others who have this goal of being the best that they can be and I’m glad I was surrounded by my Poland classmates since I consider them all genuine people.
Just a few children that were lost due to this tragic event.
I related this to our last discussion with Father Manfred when he told us how important it was not to categorize people, not to be like Hitler or his followers who categorized the Jews and persecuted them. This may seem like an impossible task since many people, including myself usually do categorize people, we make stereotypes, we say hurtful things to one another or we never give a person the benefit of the doubt. This brings us to another important lesson that I learned from Father Manfred, he discussed human dignity with us. He said many people ask where was God during the Shoah, but he argues the real question is where was human dignity during the Shoah? Where was the respect for human life? He continued this discussion by highlighting how every person was made from God, how every person has good as well as evil in them. However, its up to us whether we want to be a good or bad person. Its difficult to understand this concept and took me a while to reflect on my own personality and past actions. But I came to the result that I want to better myself by being that good person, by being a good son, brother, friend and student. I want to surround myself with others who have this goal of being the best that they can be and I’m glad I was surrounded by my Poland classmates since I consider them all genuine people.
I leave these horrific places with a better
understanding, not about why or how it all happened since its impossible to
know exactly why all this occurred. However, I leave with hope, hope that
nothing like this ever occurs, hope in every single being, hope in God and hope
in myself. I also leave with the commitment of not being a bystander to unfair
treatment of others and with the responsibility of educating others that are
not familiar with the Holocaust. Prior to this experience, I was a student and
now I am a witness. I reread my first blog post and am glad to say that I have
accomplished all of Sister Mary’s four dimensions. It was a difficult week of
seeing the ruins of the Holocaust but I walked away with a whole new perspective
of life and human dignity. I was educated on such a tragic time in history, I
grew close to classmates and learned a lot about myself. I would not have
traded this experience with anything else, thank you to my incredible
classmates and my two wonderful professors that were there every step of the
way on this unforgettable journey.
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