Elie Wiesel on Oprah

Hello there my lovelies,

On Wednesday I watched Oprah. She made a trip to Poland to meet with Elie Wiesel and take a tour of Auschwitz. It was a beautiful show, but heartwrenching to watch. She and Wiesel walked arm in arm while he recounted the horrors he personally experienced.

The part that moved me the most was when he brought her to the pile of shoes. The pile was huge. Of course they are decaying because they are over 60 years old, but you could still see shoes with personality. I saw poor shoes, and elegant shoes. The camera zoomed in on a pair of red shoes that looked like it belonged to a dancer full of dreams. And they were just lying there in a pile with the other shoes, waiting for its owner to return. But the part that was harder to watch was when the camera zoomed in on the pile of baby shoes and baby clothes. I realized that people had to take the clothes and shoes off these babies. One has to be full of hatred to take it out on infants and take the clothes off their backs.

 I've seen a lot of horrible images on film and pictures regarding the Holocaust,of people starving and dying. But seeing Elie Wiesel talk about the shoes and clothes just hit me harder. I remember when I visited the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. as well as Mauthausen in Austria. Seeing physical objects that were there just made it all real to me.

I still would like to see the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam one day. I used to read her book in school, and I felt like I could relate to her. But it wasn't until I visited Mauthausen last year that I realized just how courageous she was. I also realized that she so wise and beyond her years. As she was being locked up with her family only to later be deported, she still chose to believe that humans are inherently good.

I should have made the trip to Amsterdam while I was living in Barcelona. The trip woulda been a helluva lot cheaper then than it would be now. But I was broke at the time. One day when I get myself out of my financial mess, that will be on the top of my list.

Ciao for now.