Comments | eduncan: hell

eduncan

hell

Jan 02, 2003 12:57

I'm updating from Kieran and Doug's apartment in Prague. I won't read through other Livejournals or comments right now. The dialup connection on K's laptop is really slow. Slower than usual today too. I only wanted to let everyone know I'm ok and glad I came here. I don't know when I'll update again, maybe after I'm back in Oregon ( Read more... )

Comments 15

leftwinger January 2 2003, 09:10:52 UTC

I think this is an almost religious experience, but of the backwards sort. It doesn't put you in awe of the power and majesty of the all-powerful being, but makes you want to have nothing to do with that at all.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The Holocaust Museum here in D.C. is easily one of the most painful experiences I've had, and I'm certain that it still pales in comparison to the experience you just had. Both mourning my lost family and being absolutely assaulted by the depravity that man can sink to, I was struck by the quote from Wiesel's Night that they have up on one of the walls:

Never shall I forget that night ... that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live ... the moments which murdered my God and my soul ... Never shall I forget these things if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never.

I intend to visit there sometime in 2004-05. I cannot imagine passing up my chance to witness.

youbreakmeopen January 2 2003, 09:48:01 UTC

I can't imagine the unrest that was felt throughout Auschwitz and Birkenau. The overwhelming senses of grief, disgust, sorrow... When you think that you touring it was no where near what the victims went through. I can only see that making it through something like that would give you a totally new outlook on things.

.... hapan605 January 2 2003, 09:53:24 UTC

My mother, who lost most of her family to Treblinka and Auschewitz-Birkenau, remembered revisiting the camp back in '98. The emotion, she said, is not so much that the survivors do not cry, but rather, they cannot cry, for the sheer emotion of that place is beyond what crying can achieve. Hard to imagine, even harder to attempt in contemplation.

Re: .... eduncan January 25 2003, 17:59:16 UTC

Yeah. It's like........ if you have been through it and you want to cry, where do you even start on the list of things to cry about?

northing January 2 2003, 10:00:17 UTC

Damn. Your entries haven't made me cry since last spring. Did today, in my office. I was 16 when I visited the remains of Dachau. I'm sure that it is because of my unforgettable experience of horror and human tragedy that I can't read your entry without being personally involved. I think you'll find that personal involvement is the real value of your experience too.

I'm so glad you chose to go with K and his family. They are your family too. It's a bad habit to let fear and insecurity make your choices for you. That's what we have critical thinking for.

When I read this entry about such grotesque loss of human potential, I felt outrage and sadness. But at the same time I felt pathos mixed with satisfaction at the growing human potential I see in you.

bonoboboy January 2 2003, 10:48:02 UTC

I had to do a report on the Holocaust Museum for my English Class my first semester here. I made several trips to the museum here in DC to do the research for the report. It always leaves me hanging in emotional anguish, drained. It's something so horific that ... I don't know. It cannot be put into words.

I think everyone should experience it and the museum, though. I have cried many tears for this event, and am about to cry some more. Thank you vor sharing this with us, sweetie.