Holocaust Survivor Eva Olsson's Story

One day in the 1940s the Nazis came and told the Jewish people to get packing because they were going to be shipped away to a brick factory to do hard labour. What they didn't know however was that they were actually being sent on a train (crammed into boxcars) to a terrible place called Auschiwitz, one of the worst concertration camps in the world. This where a brave young girl, Eva Olsson and most of her family were sent.

After 4 days without any water or food, the train finally came to it's destination. There they were ordered in a line to determine if they would be sent to the left or the right. If you were sent to to left, it usually meant death. However, if you were sent to the right it meant you would have a better chance of living. This separated many families. Mothers, pregnant females, and children were usually sent to the left to end their lives in the gas chambers. Olsson's mother was one of the "left"people to be sent away. She had to leave without even getting to say goodbye or "I love you" to Eva or her other children one last time. Think of it, small children and females all innocent just sent away to their deaths. What did they ever do to the Nazis?!?!

Eva Olsson came to our school this week to tell of the horrors and tragedys she had to experience during her time at Auschiwitiz. Think of the amazing courage Eva must have had while going through the Holocaust. Hunger, thirst, pain, fear and sickness, all those things she suffered and she was only a young girl! The school was silenced as we heard what Eva had to say. The Nazis bullies have killed about 140 000 000 all because of HATRED and PREJUDICE.

What impacted me the most about Eva's story was how so many people died just because of their different religion. I mean everyone is different so that doesn't give any right to bully because of it. Besides, if everyone was the same, this world would be very boring trust me. For years to come I will remember to have courage minute after minute instead of year after year because if Eva can have that courage, so can I. There is one question however that I wished that Eva would've answered and that is: "What was it like to be away from Auschiwitz after having to be there for so long?" I would've wanted to know what it felt like to be finally free.

This story has made me think of a couple of ways to stop bullying. The first one is not to be a bystander and report bullying if I see it. Another way would be to never tease or bully anyone because they're different. Even if you were just kidding, it could still hurt them. Of all the lessons Eva shared with us, I think that the most important lesson is not to hate and to always tell your family that you love them because you might not have a chance to say that ever again. I think the hardest lesson I intend to follow is never to say hate. What I mean by that is hatred is what killed the all those innocent I don't want to hate someone or something ever in my life. After Eva had finished speaking her story touched my heart and realized that I must follow the lessons she told us from now on.

MS Team Building Day

On Monday(yesterday), all of Middle School went to a place called Norval for a Team Building Day. In my group for the morning I had Wilks, Eric, Marina, Jamie, Hayley, Thomas, Ethan and Brenna on my team. I had so much fun that I want to go again next year. I'll tell you some things that happened:

One of my highlights for that morning was my team doing very well with the 2nd challenge. The 2nd challenge was to get a tire off a wooden pole. What we did was everyone helped push Thomas up the pole so he can get the tire off the pole. We had to push very hard because Thomas wasn't exactly the lightest or smallest person ever(no offensense Thomas!) so it made it bit difficult to push him up. The 2nd part of the challenge was to put the tire back onto the pole and we actually did it faster than the 1st part of the challenge because we used a lighter person than Thomas: Jamie. So she risked her "small" life (sorry I felt like saying that) going up a pole, holding a very heavy tire while by being pushed by everyone up the treacherous pole. For both parts, I pushed the person up by holding up their one foot up and afterwards, my fingers were sore.

One thing I thought that my team had a bit of trouble with was the very 1st challenge. The challenge was to get everyone to 4 bits of wood then getting to the other side without touching the ground and using only a thing of rope and 3 planks of wood. When we used the rope to help our balance, it actually made it even harder to get across resulting in more people falling off the small planks of wood. Plus, when most of the people got across, I was probably the only one that was actually trying to hold the rope up for people on the bits of wood and the people on the other side were barely helping at first. Eventually, we all worked together, payed attention and got everyone across which was good. I was probably was the only one that didn't fall off once. I guess I have good balance.

Overall, the day was a amazing expeirence. Especially the drum circle we had after lunch. This people called the Drum Cafe came in and we played awesome rhythms together. They barely talked and yet everyone listened to them. At one part, they were handing out different insturments to most people so we can get differents rhythms together to make a awesome group song. Though I didn't get a different instrument then, I was OK just playing the drum. Afterwards, my hands were red and I could barely hear a thing considering it was very loud. This day will certainly be a day to remember.

I need a book!!

Alright, I don't have any books to read and I don't know what to do! If you guys have books that you think I'll like, please post in a comment.

Does "the clothes make the man"?

This is an interesting question. Obviously the answer should be NO. People are more than what they wear and what they look like. Just because someone wears "in" clothing like Lululemon and Abercormbie doesn't make them a cool or nice person. Also just because someone doesn't wear these brands doesn't make them uncool or a nerd. Someone should be judged by their so-called "inner beauty" and their actions v.s what they wear. Clothing also can show a bit of your own personality and emotion. For example, I'm more sporty and environmental so I wear T-shirts and jeans and I'm NOT into fashion v.s people who always follow trends and wear jewelry. We may have both good qualities but dressed differently so we shouldn't be judged on that.

However in today's society, The Media wants you to believe that you're a better person or more successful if you wear certain brands or items. There's a lot of pressure to look a certain way when you're applying for a job, especially when there's a lot of competition. For example, the guy who comes to an interview dressed nicely in a suit and tie v.s a guy who comes dressed in dirty jeans and T-shirt may be more likely to get the job even though both of them might be qualified for it. Therefore my answer to this question is YES and NO depending how you look on it.

Hi again

Sweet it worked! Anyhow I'm just so excited right now. I can't believe I have a blog. If you think I should add or change something, please comment.

hi

Im just seeing if this works. testing....testing.....