Question

Did you ever lose faith?

Change

"Change is the universal constant by which mankind reaches his ultimate catharsis." - Juan Nieto
When my older brother told me this quote, I really didn't know what to make out of it. I mean for me it was pretty obvious at first, change is something you can't escape from. The last part had me a bit confused. "... By which mankind reaches his ultimate catharsis." I had to Google what catharsis meant since I had no idea what the meaning was. It means "cleansing", "purging", or "clarification". This word comes from the Greek word kathairein. When I found this, the quote had changed its meaning. For me the quote means that changing is a way of clarification or cleansing for the human being. No one can escape it no matter what you do. You'll end up changing for bad or good. This isn't the only meaning to this quote to every person the meaning is different in some way or the other.
I think this is really sad since people who were once really close to you became mere people that you pass by without saying hi to or even looking. All those good times shared will only stay in your memory as if they would have never happened. Just like moments looked backed on years later and being confused with dreams instead of reality.
It doesn't matter if you move or stay in the same place all your life this will happen. Although I've moved 5 times in my life I know how it is to see someone who you were friends with go from being like a sibling to being a complete stranger in a matter of months. All you can think is why did this happen? Did I cause this? Why are you like this now? You can't stop but wonder if you had done something differently would it still be same or was it inevitable.
Sometimes it's you who changes and you don't even know it until it's happened and your best friend is with other people. This has happened to me. Changing and seeing people change. Either way it's not fun to be a part of. Sometimes you realize that you and your friend aren't so close anymore until they leave and you can't take anything back. Or you can even realize what's happening but you do nothing to stop it. I just wish that people could realize when they are hurting the other person in the process of changing and stop to see if what's happening is for the best or the worst or even necessary.
I know what I've said is only the bad part of change. But if it weren't for change then I wouldn't have all the experiences that I have today. I wouldn't have all the friendships, strong or weak, that I've created over the years. I'm sure I wouldn't be who I am if I wouldn't have seen change around me or if I hadn't changed at all.


"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences." - Into the Wild.

Class Quotes

"To lose someone, is to lose a part of you."

"Death brings lost memories."

"To move is to leave your past behind."

"While moving you leave material things behind, but memories will always stay with you."

"To progress you must leave and be left."

"You will never have the same thing twice."

"When you lose, you win."

"Moving never gets easy."

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Maus vs. Night

Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel are two holocaust survivor stories. Though both stories are memoirs about the holocaust, they are different. Maus is a graphic novel. Telling the story of Mr.Spiegelman's fathers story. While Night is told in a personal point of view. Everything that Mr.Wiesel went through. While in Maus I didn't see a lot of religious talk, I saw a lot in Night. Almost every chapter of Night had something about prayer or God. The question of the book is basically, where was God when all the Jewish needed him? Throughout the whole book faith and God are mentioned. Being it questioning them or believing in them blindly. The evolution of Elie, going from an innocent boy who believed blindly in God and all of his choices. To a completely changed person, only questioning God and his justice.

Night Chapter Four

Elie and his father are transferred to another camp, Buna. They were lucky to be in this camp since it wasn't as harsh as all of the others. His job here was in a factory, which involved hardly any physical endurance. Though many times when his Kapo, Idek, had mood swings he would hit him hard. One time Idek started hitting Elie, he wouldn't stop. At the end his whole face was swollen up and hit lip wouldnt stop bleeding. He was so angry but his work neighbor, a french girl, told him "'Bite your lip, little brother....Keep your anger and hatred for another day, for later on. The day will come, but not now....Wait. Grit your teeth and wait....'" Chapter 4, pg. 51 I think the girl did good in telling him this because Elie might have done something out of spite, which would later cost him his death.
One of the most shocking parts of this chapter was when he received whips. He was punished for just seeing his Kapo having intimate relations with a girl. Something so worthless came with severe punishment. But when Elie was being whipped all he could think was "I was thinking of my father. He must have suffered more than I did." Chapter 4, pg. 56 Being a parent and having to see someone punish your son so harshly must be hard. But having to see it and do nothing about it. That must have caused his father more pain.
Another impacting part of this chapter was when the little kid was hung. He was hung for keeping a secret. if he had died quickly, then the story wouldn't have had such a big impact. But he didn't he suffered for thirty minutes until he died. " For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes." Chapter 4, pg. 62
When I read this, I could understand why Elie had finished the chapter with "'Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows....'" Chapter 4, pg. 62. Asking where was God when this little, innocent child was suffering, not yet dead.

Chapter 3

When Elie and his family were "unloaded" from the wagons they had to immediately separate. All the valuables that people had managed to keep where soon left on the train. "... With them, at last, our illusions." All the cherished objects that had once met the world to people where left behind. With them, the illusion that they might even make it out of the camp.Women to the right and men to the left."Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother." Chapter 3, pg. 27 When Elie saw his mom leaving toward the right, he didn't imagine that that would be the last image of his mother. Not ever knowing what really happened to his parents must have been hard for him. I couldn't imagine how it might feel to just think that you will see a person later and end up finding out that they are dead. Not being able to say so many things, not being prepared to let them go just yet. What impacted me the most was when one of the Jewish told Elie and his father to lie about their ages. This shows that even though you might be going through a lot of pain and suffering you still hope to help others survive, solidarity. The man was being selfless for a couple of people whom he hadn't met before. As they were passed through to the healthy line all that they could see was the smoke coming out of the large chimneys."Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed ....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."Chapter 3, pg. 32 "The night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me." Chapter 3, pg. 34 With just that image millions of life's were changed. Just imagining if a loved one was in there burning to death or if a small child was in that living hell awaiting his death. At the end of this chapter I couldn't help but wonder, why would God put so many people through this? What did the Jewish do, that was so bad and evil to deserve this kind of suffering?
"I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." Chapter 3, pg. 42

Night Chapter Two

The second chapter of Night by Elie Wiesel wasn’t as long as the first chapter had been. It took place in the wagon in which, Elie and his family had been put into, in the past chapter. Eighty people were crammed into a wagon with just a few openings for air to come in. They drove for a long time. The Jewish people were still hopeful that they were being sent somewhere safer, away from the frontier. Of course they were wrong, not that any of them knew this at the time. While the wagon kept on going for several days. All of the things people had brought onto the wagon, was what they ate. There was barely any space for people to sit down, let alone any space for people to lay down and have some good night sleep. In between the eighty people aboard was one of Elie’s old neighbors, Madame Schachter. At nights she would start screaming “Fire, Fire!” When everyone saw that there was no fire, they did everything to shut her up. But every night the same would happen, over and over again. This scared everyone since they knew that in a few days most people would become mad as Madame Schachter had. At the end of the journey the wagon arrived to Auschwitz, Poland. As the wagon came closer to the station the passengers aboard started to smell something. They looked outside the holes the wagon had and saw fire. While all of this happened Madame sat staring blankly and not showing any signs of reaction to this. At the end of the chapter Elie and the rest of the people arrive to the reception center at Auschwitz.
In my opinion, this was a chapter that wasn’t so long but had a lot of information in it. It shows how the Jewish people were treated and how they changed over a matter of days. The reality of the separation of families and the sufferment they had to pass through before even getting to the concentration camps. All the inhumane scenarios in which they had to live in for days or even weeks. When Elie tells the story of Madame Schachter, he tells it with sorrow. Knowing this woman for years he might have been impacted greatly by her behavior. In page 24 he says, “A few days more and we should all have started to scream too.” In other words, more of this and we shall all become crazy as Madame. The most shocking part of Madame’s story was how her little boy handled it. He was about ten years old and had to see his mom go mad before his eyes. He tried to calm her down all the nights, with tears in his eyes he calmed her down. The impact of seeing your mom like that and not being able of doing anything to calm her down. Besides that he had to see men beat his mother so she would stop screaming. Just by seeing this, knowing the person or not, changes your life in a matter of seconds. Even before being a part of his own family Elie had changed immensely due to this event.