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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
Family
Tonight I had the honor of giving a presentation
on the Red Cross's efforts to re-unite those separated by the Holocaust through
concentration camps, etc. The occasion: the 60th anniversary of the liberation
of Dachau. The audience: members of the 42nd Infantry Division, whose
predecessors were the liberators of Dachau. While I don't know what everyone
else thought of my words, I do know that what I said to those soldiers got me
thinking about some
things:
"Each of us is separated from our family right now, and we all know how painful that can be. I want you to imagine, for just a moment, that you don't know where your family is; that you have lost touch with all of your relatives, and you don't even know if a single one of them is alive or dead."
I only paused for a few seconds, but I don't think that the looks of pain and fear that crossed the faces in the audience were all in my mind. It's a horrible thought, and somehow I managed to summon the correct mental image to make my listeners understand exactly what kind of mental torture those who survived the concentration camps go through daily.
Can you imagine such a thing? Being totally cut off from your family -- from the only other living descendants of your unique set of ancestors -- to the extent that you don't know if they're dead, alive, sick, well, in the same country, or city, or on a different continent.
Maybe other people -- non-heathens, or perhaps even other heathens -- see it differently than I. I grew up in a small town, and after I went "away" to college, I discovered that this town "away" from home was full of distant relations. I know where my ancestors are buried, and visit the family cemeteries as often as possible. I know where they came from and odd little tidbits about their lives, and I thrive on finding out more.
Do other people feel this way? Do other heathens feel this way? For me (and I don't know if this is a recent development or not), without my family and friends to know my name, I am nothing. My actions, my words, my very existence means nothing without family and friends to acknowledge it. Being ripped from that would be a kind of death, I think.
What about the rest of ya'll? Hammered this one out in a hurry, so if it's unclear then ask. Just pondering, when it gets right down to it, the role of family in my life, and in the life of the typical heathen.
"Each of us is separated from our family right now, and we all know how painful that can be. I want you to imagine, for just a moment, that you don't know where your family is; that you have lost touch with all of your relatives, and you don't even know if a single one of them is alive or dead."
I only paused for a few seconds, but I don't think that the looks of pain and fear that crossed the faces in the audience were all in my mind. It's a horrible thought, and somehow I managed to summon the correct mental image to make my listeners understand exactly what kind of mental torture those who survived the concentration camps go through daily.
Can you imagine such a thing? Being totally cut off from your family -- from the only other living descendants of your unique set of ancestors -- to the extent that you don't know if they're dead, alive, sick, well, in the same country, or city, or on a different continent.
Maybe other people -- non-heathens, or perhaps even other heathens -- see it differently than I. I grew up in a small town, and after I went "away" to college, I discovered that this town "away" from home was full of distant relations. I know where my ancestors are buried, and visit the family cemeteries as often as possible. I know where they came from and odd little tidbits about their lives, and I thrive on finding out more.
Do other people feel this way? Do other heathens feel this way? For me (and I don't know if this is a recent development or not), without my family and friends to know my name, I am nothing. My actions, my words, my very existence means nothing without family and friends to acknowledge it. Being ripped from that would be a kind of death, I think.
What about the rest of ya'll? Hammered this one out in a hurry, so if it's unclear then ask. Just pondering, when it gets right down to it, the role of family in my life, and in the life of the typical heathen.
Posted: Mon - May 2, 2005 at 09:48 AM