Tales Of 14 Years

I’m from power-cuts.

From one AC and loud crows crowing early in the mornings,

I’m from the streets outside my house, littered with cow dung

I’m from the juicy Guava and the stolen Jambu

I’m from cold-coffee and lost retainers

From the fascinating myths my grandparents told me

I’m from “come and get me” and “no one cares!”

From “turn that music down!” AND “what do you want?”

I’m from a BIG pink dog, who till this day remains unnamed.

I’m from Dragon Tales and The Beatles, listening to the familiar sound of my brother’s long forgotten radio

From hours of hide AnD SEEK, a very competitive game of tag

Shoved onto the top-most shelf in my closet, filled from cover to cover with memories of weddings, birthdays and anniversaries, and pictures of me in a bath.

Times before I was born and after.

And some blank pages waiting for me to fill in with my own memories.

Growing Up Together...They Hated Me

"Differences between us did not cause hatred; hatred caused differences between us." This quote had a huge impact on me. It took me back to all those times when I thought I hated someone. Someone I just loathed, maybe because they were annoying. Maybe because they were too clingy. I don't every little thing that made them seem somewhat alien, that made me not like them. Is it because I just started hating them, so that became our difference? All these questions rose into my mind. It really made me think about myself as a person. Did I just do what my friends did, hate who they hated. Then the moment I started hating them it became the difference between us? It forced me to look deeper into not only myself but into my friends. Do they make hatred the difference between their enemies? Soon I came to the conclusion that not everybody is perfect. It is human nature to want to fit in. To want to please someone. So you try to be like them so you can have a group of people you can call friends. But I know I have done this; I have made hatred the difference between some of my enemies. But other times I stood up for people and only used my own opinion on whether I liked them or not!

Stuff

My Black Messiah

The Holocaust, a time of great darkness in the history of humanity. The time where thousands were hurt and millions slain. When even your closest friends became enemies. When you would whisper help but no one would hear. The pain and suffering and no mercy to the weak. Only the rich and the Aryans survived. Sonia Weitz was unfortunately a Jew during WW2. And yes she went through the concentration camps, starvation and torture. She had most of her family taken away from her, only her and her sister survived from her family. So we watched a video where she was talking about her experiences and she read us a few poems and the one that touched me the most is 'My Black Messiah'.

First of all 'Messiah' is known as the savior of humankind for the Jewish religions and the Christians. I could really connect to the parts of this poem. I cannot say that I know what it felt like to be in her position because I have not gone through all the abuse that she had been through but I can connect to being in pain and after a long time a person comes and saves me. When I was little I would be the youngest in the house so I would get lonely because everyone had something to do and didn't want to play with me. So I would go out to the balcony, sit down and watch all the people walking by. Then I would stick my head in between the rods on the balcony. It would fit in easily but after a while when I wanted to leave my head got stuck. I pulled it back and my head got squashed and it really hurt. I started to cry. After what seemed like hours my grandma came rushing and gently took my head out. So I kind of understand the relief although mine would not have been as great as hers!

When she was reading it out in the video I wondered what the soldier must have felt when he walked into that cabin. "A flood of devastating pain, his innocence forever slain." What he must have felt when he saw all those people. There stick thin bodies, eyes gaunt. Their bodies gone through months of exhaustion, beating and starvation. More than half of them sick, slowly wasting away. All cramped into such a small space in such gruesome conditions. The pain he must have felt for those people. The guilt that his country let this happen for so long! What had gone through his mind, what did he think of Hitler or the Nazis? And when he locked eyes with Sonia, the girl who is half dead just trying desperately to stay alive for her sister. Those big sad eyes and what did he think? What emotions did he feel? What did he see in those eyes? It just makes me wonder!

None, Some or A lot?

Do you know what it feels like to be a victim? Maybe you were bullied or were you ever labeled as a loser? But when you are a victim you always wonder; "What are my options? Do I have any?" That is when this quote comes in: "Some people say that what makes a person a victim is they have limited or no-options about how to act." I heard this quote when Mrs. Meyer called all of us to the front of the classroom and read it out to us. My reaction was immediate; confusion. I mean its different in different situations.

If I got bullied because of my Indian accent (that happened to me in first grade) then I did have options. I could have tried to change my accent, talked to the counselor or my parents. Or tell on them to the teacher. But then when you are bullied you think you are alone. You think no one can help and if you tell an adult you would be a tattle-tale. That is when you make yourself a victim, thats where the stand up for yourself line comes in from. I'm somewhere in-between. I think it is true in some circumstances but in others it is totally untrue.

Then I thought to why are we discussing this in-between our Holocaust unit? Then I realized all the victims in the Holocaust. First the communists, Jews then all the other political parties that were against them. In the Jews situation in WW2 then this statement would be very true. They really didn't have any options because their whole government was against them, they had to give up everything they owned just to leave and most countries closed their doors and wouldn't let them in!

Lies, Deceit and Propagandas

World War 2, I never thought there were so many things that lead to Hitler's rise to power. How many lies he said, how many people he killed and the lives he ruined. But then you wonder, how did he get so many people to see what he saw? It was by the propaganda's! He made propagandas that showed Jew's in the worst that they could look. And the people believed the propagandas instead of actually looking at the real Jew's that used to walk the streets of their neighborhoods.

I decided to do a propaganda named 'The Eternal Jew' made by David Pinsk in 1937. The background is a bright yellow color, it represents Germany, all bright, happy and beautiful. Then there is the man in front of it. His skin a sickly gray color and his face covered in wrinkles. His dark clothes that look like they should be worn to a funeral. His arm stretched out as if saying he has money Germany's money and they don't! His shoulders are hunched forward as if he is slumping to show his laziness. He wants to bring Communism to Germany fromt he Communist sign on Germany. Also he has the whip it shows he is threatening. This picture screams out that Jews are bad for Germany!

Although I have been referring to this as a picture throughout my post so far it is actually a poster that was once decorating the streets of Germany, a book cover and a movie poster. I think they wanted to target all kinds of audiences. This must have been one of the early posters because it looks like they are trying to convince their supporters that Jews are bad.

This poster shows what Hitler wanted them to think of Jews. That they were threatening and bad for Germany. Like all the wrinkles on the mans skin and the gray skin. Also when he is asking for money that they are pathetic and just want money. That they don't even look like them with their brown hair and eyes. If I was a German then I would have been disgusted by the Jews. I would be thinking how could they have so many flaws? That they are infecting our beautiful nation. That's probably what most people thought when they saw this. But if I somehow made a time machine and went back into time then I would look at the propagandas then I would look at the real Jews then I would know that they were all lies!

This poster was very misleading! Because they showed a person who is obviously not exceeding in the beauty category and on top of that they are asking for money. They are also utilizing lies about what all Jews are! Maybe one or two Jews were like that but they told everyone that all Jews were like this. This poster obviously gives a negative opinion on Jews, they wanted everyone to think that Jews were pathetic ugly people when not all Jews were!

To Be Fair or Not To Be Fair?

We are about to start our World War 2/Holocaust unit in Humanities. So why are we studying The Treaty of Versailles? Well, The Treaty of Versailles played a big role in why Hitler started the Holocaust. What is The Treaty of Versailles you ask? Well in World War 1 or The Great War, the Europeans, U.S and France signed the treaty, it was like a peace treaty to try and ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. But their they blamed Germany for starting The Great War. Germany had to pay a big fine, was stripped of her military rights, all her oversea land was taken from her, she lost Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland and she had to give part of her land to Allied troops for 15 years! So here is the big question; was it fair or not?

This was definitely unfair! Of course some of the rules were fair, like Germany respecting the fact that Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland are independent countries now. But when they pretty much strip Germany's military rights to just about nothing that is just desperate! If they are already making Germany pay such a big debt that they are struggling economically and agriculturally then I don't see the need to take away most of their military. With them running so low economically that they will be able to support their military properly? They are pretty much trying to make them vulnerable!

Also since Russia also helped Germany in the war why didn't Russia have to help Germany in the reparations? If Russia and Germany were both on the wrong side of the war then why didn't Russia have to help with the reparations? That was also very unfair. They also didn't let anyone speak for Germany, and they didn't give Germany a chance to have a trial. This started World War 2. Also when the stories about the Jews backstabbing the Germans during the war, these stories started when the treaty was made. Since the treaty blamed the Germans the Germans also wanted to blame someone, they blamed the Jews. They didn't think about the future, they only thought of how to end the war momentarily!