None of that matters…

Yesterday, DH and I visited the Auschwitz exhibit. It was so moving. The website said to plan for 120 minutes… they were a little off… we spent 3.5 hours there. I just felt like I needed to look at each and every photograph, listen to each story thoroughly. I owed it to the those who were murdered and those who survived.

The first tears were when we had to walk through a metal detector. We weren’t allowed purses or bags. I don’t know why this bothered me so… but it did. That we have to worry about someone wanting to cause harm at a museum … anywhere really… is this really where we are as a society? Violence is so prevalent… (shakes head in grief…) Back to the exhibit…

Everyone had a headset and as you went through, you would play the corresponding audio. It was moving. I cried so many times. To hear of the losses of so many families… being separated… children taken from their mothers. Mothers taken from their children. Husbands and wives torn apart.

The torture, the conditions, the hate. I can’t ever imagine thinking I was so much better than another human being that I could do such things.

Watching the videos of Hitler’s speeches and seeing the crowds dote on him was … I’m not sure of the right word… terrifying, eye opening, disturbing… I couldn’t help but see a correlation to events of the last few years and even still now. Someone dehumanizing other people, making up such untruths, such outright lies about whole groups of people.

It was just… crushing to go through it, but honestly, I think EVERYONE should be required to go through it to see what HATE can do. What HATE did do. What HATE is still doing.

But there was a beautiful side of the exhibit too. The memories shared of the prisoners care for one another, their faith, of their courage to face another day so that they could live to tell the truth so that maybe, just maybe their story, their truth, could stop anything like this from happening again.

There were so many quotes I want to remember but I didn’t want to ruin my experience by taking out my phone to take photos or take notes but I did get two photos at the very end.

This is the first one I took. That last sentence… read it again.

“In the world of rapid changes, the lesson of Auschwitz should be a warning, forcing us all to think about our active responsibility for the world we live in.”

Our ACTIVE responsibility. In the final interviews shared, each person said in one way or another, leave hate behind. Love EVERYONE. Don’t think about race, color, religion or anything, none of that matters, just love each other.

None of that matters… at. all.

This second one really struck me as I’ve been a bit too… blah lately.

This winter, I’ve found myself just secluded and no desire to do much. I do crochet A LOT but I need to do better.

“Because it would be too senseless after all for so many to have died while you live doing nothing with your life.”

Today, I plan on dancing around my house with my DH. I plan to spend some time laughing with each other. I plan on reaching out to my neighbor’s just to check in and say hello. I plan on taking time to share love… maybe I’ll bake, maybe I’ll crochet some love into a hat, or scarf but today, I will live because what a beautiful gift life is.