Remembering Auschwitz-64th Anniversary Of The Liberation Of The Jews

        Today is a day to remember, it is the 64th anniversary of the liberation of the Jewish people from the concentration camp Auschwitz.  It was a day of relief and a day of sadness.  Sadness for those who’s lives were lost before they could be rescued…and a day of relief for those who were still alive and had a chance for survival.  People want to forget the horrors of the concentration camps…or worse, they deny that it ever existed.  The prisoners at the concentration camps were there because of hatred; they were feared and they were hated just because of their heritage.  There is no excuse for genocide.

       If we are allowed to forget the horror of such evil…it could happen again.  If we deny that it ever existed then we are guilty of adding to the evil that took place and destroyed so many people.  It is a time of world history that must be observed.

      There are some who were there that still have memories of that time.  There are some who have loved ones who went through the extreme torture that was the concentration camps.  No group of human beings should ever be treated the way that the Jews were treated.  We lost so many people that could have added culture, music, craftmanship, business accumen…and so much more to the world.  It was and is a tragedy the likes of which we should hope to never see again.

       Think about the suffering and the misery that they went through.  The fear that consumed the soul.  Yet, there were those who resisted, those who aided others by sharing what they had to keep others alive, there were those who tried to hide individuals and help them escape the power of the SS.  The word hero is thrown around so often that people misunderstand the courage that it takes to stand strong in the face of evil, and destructive controlling power. 

       The human spirit is an amazing thing; the will to survive is amazing and can overcome many obstacles.  There are many individual stories from the holocaust and it is important to document them when you have the opportunity.  I posted an earlier story in this blog about Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, a talented artist who was incarcerated at Auschwitz.  She was forced to use her talent to paint individuals and gypsies from the concentration camp for Dr. Josef Mengeles the angel of death who performed terrible “experiments” on those behind the gates. 

       You can read about her and her efforts to get her artwork returned to her before she passes from this world into the next here:  https://writeasrain.wordpress.com/?s=dina+babbit .  Do you know any  stories of the survivors of the concentration camps?

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Excuse Me, I Am Still Using That Body Part!

         This incident had to be a little shocking for the people involved; a 45 year old man from Paris, France had a massive heart attack.  His heart had stopped working for over an hour and a half. 

          It appears that emergency personel tried to revive him but wasn’t having great results.  They sent him on to a hospital where they continued the effort only to decide he was gone.  Then, just as he was being prepped for an organ donation…his heart began to jump back into action.  What a surprise for the surgeons involved in prepping him for the organ donation procedure!  It was a miracle for the 45 year old man; sad for those on the waiting list for the donated organs, though.

         Organ donation is a wonderful thing…it has the power to save and improve the lives of so many people.  However, i think people do actually get concerned about how the medical profession decides that a person is truly dead, before they proceed with retrieving an organ from a donor. 

        If a person has decided to become an organ donor; the best thing they can do is document it and make sure that the next of kin is aware of their wishes.  If a person has strong feelings on the matter, it is very important that they make it clear to family and friends about their decision; relieving the next of kin from the stress of having to make that decision.  www.organdonor.gov/ or www.organtransplants.org/ or www.donatelife.net/ .  

        There are those who argue about the ethics involved in organ donation; waiting lists, costs, black market organs, testing of the health of the donors, safety of medical flight transportation of organs; and some of those arguments are valid…however, no-one can deny the impact on the lives of those who give and those who receive.  There are complex layers of emotions involved.

        I think that when people consider organ donation, this is one of the biggest fears that they face…what if they aren’t really dead?  I am sure there is a definate protocol involved to insure that this kind of situation is avoided; however, in this case, i sort of imagined myself in that situation with my slightly twisted sense of humor.

        I can just see it; coming to on the surgery table…saying, “Excuse me, don’t touch that.   I still have a need for that particular body part!”  LOL  

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