Dear Elie,
After
I finished your book I found myself unable to do anything, but sit quietly and
think. Think about the Holocaust, your story,
the world, and myself. I firmly believe
in the saying everything happens for a reason.
So why, I wonder, did the Holocaust take place? Humans have not learned their lesson, and
frankly I do not think they ever will. A
few years ago I read a book called A Long
Way Gone. It is a story about a child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil
war. The protagonist becomes a witness
of modern day genocide, and he is forced to carry on alone after his family is
slaughtered. This war took place during
the 1990’s. This really shook me,
because these things happened in my lifetime.
We have such a sheltered life here in America that we forget about the world’s
poverty, war, and genocide. Why is it
that no one knows or cares about these terrible things? I don’t think there is one correct answer,
but I do believe that people are selfish.
One only has to read about the scene in the cattle cars when you say, “In
the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued. Men were hurling themselves against one another,
trampling, tearing at and mauling each other” (Wiesel 101). Selfishness is one of human beings worst traits;
if we were never selfish would the holocaust have happened? No, of course not, people wouldn’t have stood
for it. To prevent something like the holocaust
from happening again, we must overcome our selfishness and lookout for our
fellow humans.
Through
all of your books horrors, the only thing that gave me hope for society was you
Elie. No matter how much you were
suffering, you always cared about you fellow humans. When you were leaving Gleiwitz you did one of
the bravest things imaginable during a selection. “The SS officers were doing selection: the
weak, to the left; those who walked well to the right. My father was sent to the left. I ran after
him” (Wiesel 96). With total disregard for
your own life, you followed your father, because you knew he couldn’t live
without you. The confusion that you
caused allowed you and your father to switch to the good side, and that make me
smile. They say what goes around comes around,
and your selfless actions helped you and your father survive that selection. I figured that if a boy my age could be so
courageous in the face of danger, then humanity must be good deep down. Thank you for sharing your story Elie; you
have taught me so much is such a short book.
I’m sure that if every single person was able to read this book, the
world would be a much better place.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Scott