All The Small Things

Today is a day that will stay with me forever. I visited the concentration camp called Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland today. The camp was responsible for the deaths of over 1.4 million people during World War II.. mostly Jews, but included Gypsies, homosexuals, Soviet POWs, and many other European nationalities.

You see the barracks in which they were held prisoner. You see the poor and near unbearable living conditions in which they lived. You see how little food they were given each day despite the expectation of performing hardcore slave labour. You see the posts from which they are hung. You walk the tunnels and darkness of hallways in which they were crammed and treated like completely sub-human creatures as if they had no hopes, dreams, desires, and aspirations. Their lives meant nothing in the eyes of the Third Reich, and the people of whom put them in power fully supported the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, and Homosexuals in Europe during World War II.

Never again will I complain about something as trivial as tomato accidentally being put on my sandwich. Never again will I get upset about someone driving or walking too slow in front of me, even if it's making me late. Never again will I forget to tell someone how much I love them, and what they truly mean to me, nor let them forget it. Never again will I allow someone to be bullied and be treated less than human. Never again will I take someone or something for granted.

Despite it being 60 years after these camps being closed, you walk around and feel the death, terror, and suffering that occurred in between the barbed wired fences. Off in the distance you hear trains and imagine people being transported there in large numbers where about 1/4th of the people didn't even survive the trip. Those that did were taken right to the gas chambers usually. In order to reduce panic, they were told they were going to "shower". Some were burnt completely alive.

There are dozens of visitors over the several acres of the camps, but they all observe in silence as they try to process the atrocities. The unexpected cry of a child breaks the silence, and sends a huge chill down your spine. The winds howls; the leaves bristle loudly as if they are trying to talk to you. Rain clouds cover the sky; the sun disappears... along with your shadow... just as easily as all the people who perished in these camps.

No words I type can properly express the feelings I felt this day... none. Today really is the first day of the rest of my life. I will never see life in the same light again... ever. Each day will be a new chance to make something better, and to make something better the best, for myself and as many others as I can.

I challenge you to do the same if you aren't already. After all, it's all the small things that make life worth living.