I step into the chapel, breathe in the typical smelly scent of the old place. I see the woman, Eva , and shoot a friendly smile her way. I knew it, just another boring presentation, like all the others. But as she started to speak, the expression in her voice impressed me, for a woman her age. I listen intently, taking in all she has been through, trying to imagine what it was like for her. I look at her carefully and see the terrible fear in her eyes.
On October 26th, 2009, all of middle and upper school saw an inspiring woman speak to us, Eva Olsson, one of the few Holocaust survivors. For fifty years, she didn't speak of it at all, then she finally had an outbreak, and told the world of her terrifying story of the Holocaust. It just amazed me how much she has been through in her life, and to have the courage to fight through it all, that's just unbelievable. It was very inspiring and touching, and she inspired me not to use the word hate so often. She taught us so much about the Nazi bullies, and how hate overcame Hitler and his soldiers. Just a single word can have the largest impact on anyone. Now every time I say that word, I'm going to think about it first, do I really hate it? Hate is something I hear every day, but now that I've heard Eva's experiences, I've learned to think about what I do or say. Is it right? Should I be doing/ saying this?
Eva talked to us about being a bystander only encourages the bullying more. She told us that Hitler could have never accomplished his task without the bystanders. As she walked to the box cars, she remembered all the bystanders, lining up as if watching a holiday parade. Isn't that terrible?
On the ride there, there was one bucket of water to be shared among the hundreds of Jews in the box car, all forced to stand the whole way to Auschwitz. As the Jews were lined up, they were inspected, then sent to the left or the right. People sent to the right were to start working right away, people sent to the left, were sent to the gas chambers, a place no one knew about until they were sent there. Only people in perfect condition would be sent to the right, and maybe live for the first day of harsh work. Whereas people with even just a small scratch or scar, were sent to the left. The hardest thing for Eva was when she was sent to the right, but her mother parted from her as she was sent to the left. Eva told us how she didn't even get the chance to tell her how much she loved her mother for the last time.
Diseases overcame most people, and millions of people died. Eva told us that, not accidents, not sicknesses, but the "h" word killed millions of innocent Jews, just because of their religion.
We learned a few lessons from that amazing speech by Eva:
1. being a bystander to bullying, only bullies the victim even more
2. drinking and driving is not a good choice.
3. the "h" word killed millions of innocent people
I stand up, and am speechless as I leave the chapel. I learned very valuable lessons, that will change my life forever.
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