Art Saves Lives

This is an incredible video demonstrating the power of art and hope and showing the indominatable human spirit.

Fleeting Ideas

I always think about all these good things to write about when I am out of the house, driving down the road or at work or when I'm in the store or someplace where I can't write my idea down and then, when I get home, I forget. I had an idea today, but it went that way, too.

Ran some errands, prepared for Mother's Day a bit, did some work, did some art, took a nap today. Nothing too exciting. I found an online course I am thinking about taking - with SARK. I love her books, but I'm reluctant to sign up for another weekly call commitment, although this one is at a better time than my other telecourse (which was so worth it!!). I am still pondering, so I will keep the blog posted about it.

Anyway, that's all I know today. I'm feeling like I'm in a blog rut, so I'm looking for things to spice it up. We'll see what happens, right?

!!I just remembered one of the things I was thinking about!! I was in the car today listening to the radio and I heard an interview with Elie Wiesel. At first, I didn't know if it was him (although I thought it was from his voice) and I kept listening. He is such a profound person. He moved me to tears by some of the things he was saying. I will look for the podcast of the interview...

One thing that struck me in the interview was when the interviewer (David Bender, I believe) asked Professor Wiesel how we can impact the next generation when they have no Holocaust/Shoah Survivors to speak to in person - how can we tell the story so that they don't forget history? Professor Wiesel said, "When you listen to a witness, you become a witness." I realized how true that is in so many ways and yet, it is another place that people are afraid to take responsibility in their lives many times.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops. Now this day is commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Go here to to watch Elie Wiesel speak about the Universal Lessons of the Holocaust at the opening of the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum. He is one of the most profound speakers of our time. The weight of his duty and history echoes still in his words. He is a man of few words, but I want to hear all of his words and hold them close and try to honor him, honor the people murdered in the Holocaust.

If you have not read "Night" by Wiesel, you must read it. Originally, it was more than 1,000 pages and he edited it down to less than 200 pages - he felt that his memories were unprintable.

In Elie Wiesel's words, "We must become the messenger's messengers."

Never again.

Miep Gies - Honoring Courage

Miep Gies died last week at the age of 100. It is hard to imagine all that she had seen in her life even without including the horrors of World War II and her protection of the Frank family in The Netherlands.

In my deepest heart, I want to know that I would have that kind of courage if faced with a decision to protect people from wrong. I'm not sure I have that much courage.



If you want to read more about Miep Gies and the history of hiding the Frank family, go here.

Convergence

It is funny how things converge to lead us to an idea, a thought, an experience, sometimes...Yesterday, I was in Barnes and Noble and as I was headed to purchase some books with my gift certificates (from the past 3 years...), I saw a copy of the novel the movie "Defiance" was adapted, so I bought it.  It had been on the list.

Today, I was with a friend and talked about "Defiance" and "The Reader" then on my way home, I turned the radio on and the talk show host was interviewing a playwright named Dan Gordon and he was discussing the play he had written titled, "Irena's Vow".  The play is either headed toward or is already on Broadway.  It got rave reviews when it was Off-Broadway.  The story is about a young Polish Catholic woman who hid 13 Jews in the house of a German officer during the war.  

I was really loathe to tear myself away from the interview except that nature called after I had been sitting in the driveway for about 15 minutes, just listening.

Apparently, after the war, the real Irena moved to the United States, got married, had a daughter and never spoke of what had happened to her during the war.  One day, a young man, who was working on his dissertation denying the Holocaust, called to ask her some questions in a random survey.  As he asked questions trying to lead her to denying the Holocaust, she grew more and more agitated before blurting out her story.  Her daughter was, I believe, 11 years old at the time (maybe older) and had never heard the story before.  

The playwright said that after that, Irena would tour public schools and talk to the high school students about hate and the Holocaust and tell them, "You are the last generation to hear this story from those who were witnesses.  You have a responsibility to remember and to tell other people."  She was said to have told people that even the biggest, most macho boys came to her afterwards to talk to her and she would hug them and say, "I love you, honey."  He said that to hear that from her was to hear the most sincere, most unconditional love come from a human being.

I was so moved, I came in the house to research the play, the playwright and whatever I could find.  The woman playing Irena in the play is Tovah Feldshuh.  When they first said her name, I knew it was familiar, but I couldn't place it.  When I googled her, I found that she played the Jessica Stein's mother in "Kissing Jessica Stein".  I loved her in that (I will talk about that movie some other time here).  I think she is mostly a New York/Broadway actress - she has done movies and television, but it seems like her fame has really come from Broadway.  The playwright RAVED about her and so did the talk show host.  They said she was the "Olympian" of acting.

If you are interested, there is a really in-depth interview with Tovah Feldshuh on the play's website. She is a great interview and has a lot of great things to say.  The video is quite long - 29 minutes.  It looks to be some kind of local tv program from New York, but it was worth watching. Follow this link:  http://irenasvow.com/videos.