Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Introduction
My name is Ellen Donahue and I am just about to graduate high school in central Massachusetts suburbia. Last year when it was time to pick senior classes, I noticed a lot of people were signing up for the Facing History in Ourselves course because they had heard good things about it. Once I learned that many of my friends were signing up for the class and we’d therefore have the possibility to be in a senior class together sealed the deal for me and I decided to take it myself. Although it didn’t turn out the way at all that I has previously planned with my friends in the class and with the class being a bit of an easy senior class, I couldn’t be more pleased with how it did. This class did make a huge impact on me and the way that I view the world. Upon hearing that it is a class devoted entirely to the Holocaust many people may be put off thinking that it would be too grim or thinking that they’ve heard too much about the Holocaust and don’t even care anymore. But this class was much more to everyone who took it than just that. Although we learned about the horrors of the Holocaust in far more detail than I have in my entire schooling, I think we learned a lot about the human spirit. We saw Germans allowing Jews to be persecuted and we learned that we must stand up to oppressors at all times, and we saw the consequences of what could happen if we don’t.
Make a Difference Essay
Ellen Donahue
5/17/11
Period 3
What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me
Before taking this class I was apprehensive. My friend took the course the previous semester and told me about how difficult the class was to sit through at times. She told me about watching movies about the death camps where prisoners had been reduced to corpses lying about on the ground. She told me about watching a movie where a family moves near a concentration camp because the father is a soldier and the son ends up being killed along with the Jew boy he made friends with. The prospect of watching such horrifying videos daily did not seem like something that I wanted to do. But now I am so glad that I did.
There were times in the class where my previous apprehensions proved right and I was just completely physically uncomfortable and unable to watch the movies being shown. In those cases all I could do was stare just below the screen and listen. The audio itself was enough to penetrate into my psyche. But while it was going on I absolutely did not regret it at all. I realized that I was becoming more and more educated in something that I know realize I did not know nearly enough about before. It may have been difficult to deal with watching the movie, which only makes me imagine actually being there while the Holocaust was taking place. I have gained even more respect for those who went through it, which I didn’t think was possible, from breaking down into tears from just seeing videos
without ever even actually having to experience the horrors of it all.
Facing History and Ourselves has meant putting myself out of my comfort zone of everyday Massachusetts suburbia and stepping into the shoes of those who have suffered far more than I probably ever will. It has meant putting my feelings and desires to look away aside and dealing with reality. I am an escapist by nature, so this is an incredibly difficult think for me to do in daily circumstances, so it was even harder in terms of dealing with the Holocaust. I couldn’t escape the screaming in the movies and I think it has made me that much stronger of a person. The one that hit me the strongest was “The Grey Zone.” I can’t put my finger exactly on what it was about that movie, but I feel that that the was the turning point in the course where I realized just how real everything that we were learning about was. That was the first point where I came close to tears in the class. The first time that I actually cried was at the end of “The Boy in Striped Pajamas.”
One of the worst things to learn about for me was Dr. Mengele and all the experiments that the doctors conducted on their prisoners. I’ve always been a little weary of doctors and I think a lot of that has to do with the stereotype of the mad doctor who tortures his patients, but I also always attributed those stories to the twisted minds of horror writers who do nothing else with their time but think of the most terrifying situations for people to be in. This phobia made learning that this was all actually a reality for these people even worse. The average person thinks of a doctor as a savior who is there to heal them and who they can turn to. The mere idea of someone doing something so utterly disgusting to other human beings and taking advantage of such a prestigious title makes me feel physically ill.
Looking back, I realize how correct Mr. Gallagher was in saying that if we did not stay for the second quarter of the course we would never truly understand what it was about. I wasn’t sure I believed him at first, honestly. I thought that you would get the basic gist of the course if you were there for the first quarter, but the second was much more meaningful than the first. The second quarter hit me harder than I ever anticpated. The first quarter had me talking to people who I normally wouldn’t about subjects that wouldn’t normally just come up every day, but that’s not what affected me. Had I been unsure of my identity before taking the course perhaps then that would have helped me figure out something about myself. But I have always had a strong sense of self and known just who I was. I have known that I stand out and that I am not afraid to stand up to people who I know are wrong, which has made it frustrating for me to see Germans accept the Nazis in films. So that wasn’t the part of the course that I needed. The second quarter made me more aware of humanity. Growing up in Westborough is a very sheltered experience and it’s sometimes hard to remember that there is such strong hate and violence in the world. I try to keep myself up to date on world events, but they all seem so distant in a world where everyone knows each other and the worst thing that can happen to you is that someone starts a nasty rumor. I legitimately felt for the victims that we saw in all the movies and cried for them multiple times. I know that that doesn’t ultimately do anything for them, but it’s all that I can do now that they’re gone. But this has empowered me even more to stand up for those being mistreated now so that this will never happen again. From now on when I go out to events based on fighting for equality, whether it be for gays or women or anything else, I will remember the people who died in the Holocaust because no one would fight for them and I will fight that much harder.
5/17/11
Period 3
What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me
Before taking this class I was apprehensive. My friend took the course the previous semester and told me about how difficult the class was to sit through at times. She told me about watching movies about the death camps where prisoners had been reduced to corpses lying about on the ground. She told me about watching a movie where a family moves near a concentration camp because the father is a soldier and the son ends up being killed along with the Jew boy he made friends with. The prospect of watching such horrifying videos daily did not seem like something that I wanted to do. But now I am so glad that I did.
There were times in the class where my previous apprehensions proved right and I was just completely physically uncomfortable and unable to watch the movies being shown. In those cases all I could do was stare just below the screen and listen. The audio itself was enough to penetrate into my psyche. But while it was going on I absolutely did not regret it at all. I realized that I was becoming more and more educated in something that I know realize I did not know nearly enough about before. It may have been difficult to deal with watching the movie, which only makes me imagine actually being there while the Holocaust was taking place. I have gained even more respect for those who went through it, which I didn’t think was possible, from breaking down into tears from just seeing videos
without ever even actually having to experience the horrors of it all.
Facing History and Ourselves has meant putting myself out of my comfort zone of everyday Massachusetts suburbia and stepping into the shoes of those who have suffered far more than I probably ever will. It has meant putting my feelings and desires to look away aside and dealing with reality. I am an escapist by nature, so this is an incredibly difficult think for me to do in daily circumstances, so it was even harder in terms of dealing with the Holocaust. I couldn’t escape the screaming in the movies and I think it has made me that much stronger of a person. The one that hit me the strongest was “The Grey Zone.” I can’t put my finger exactly on what it was about that movie, but I feel that that the was the turning point in the course where I realized just how real everything that we were learning about was. That was the first point where I came close to tears in the class. The first time that I actually cried was at the end of “The Boy in Striped Pajamas.”
One of the worst things to learn about for me was Dr. Mengele and all the experiments that the doctors conducted on their prisoners. I’ve always been a little weary of doctors and I think a lot of that has to do with the stereotype of the mad doctor who tortures his patients, but I also always attributed those stories to the twisted minds of horror writers who do nothing else with their time but think of the most terrifying situations for people to be in. This phobia made learning that this was all actually a reality for these people even worse. The average person thinks of a doctor as a savior who is there to heal them and who they can turn to. The mere idea of someone doing something so utterly disgusting to other human beings and taking advantage of such a prestigious title makes me feel physically ill.
Looking back, I realize how correct Mr. Gallagher was in saying that if we did not stay for the second quarter of the course we would never truly understand what it was about. I wasn’t sure I believed him at first, honestly. I thought that you would get the basic gist of the course if you were there for the first quarter, but the second was much more meaningful than the first. The second quarter hit me harder than I ever anticpated. The first quarter had me talking to people who I normally wouldn’t about subjects that wouldn’t normally just come up every day, but that’s not what affected me. Had I been unsure of my identity before taking the course perhaps then that would have helped me figure out something about myself. But I have always had a strong sense of self and known just who I was. I have known that I stand out and that I am not afraid to stand up to people who I know are wrong, which has made it frustrating for me to see Germans accept the Nazis in films. So that wasn’t the part of the course that I needed. The second quarter made me more aware of humanity. Growing up in Westborough is a very sheltered experience and it’s sometimes hard to remember that there is such strong hate and violence in the world. I try to keep myself up to date on world events, but they all seem so distant in a world where everyone knows each other and the worst thing that can happen to you is that someone starts a nasty rumor. I legitimately felt for the victims that we saw in all the movies and cried for them multiple times. I know that that doesn’t ultimately do anything for them, but it’s all that I can do now that they’re gone. But this has empowered me even more to stand up for those being mistreated now so that this will never happen again. From now on when I go out to events based on fighting for equality, whether it be for gays or women or anything else, I will remember the people who died in the Holocaust because no one would fight for them and I will fight that much harder.
Works Cited
"Death Camp ." Of fallibility and immorality. Web. 18 May 2011. .
"Doctor Mengele." World War II. Web. 18 May 2011..
"The boy in Striped Pajamas Art." "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" - Film Adaptation Unit . Web. 18 May 2011.
"The Grey Zone Poster." celebritywonder. Web. 18 May 2011..
"The Woman From the Grey Zone." Landgirl's Library. Web. 18 May 2011..
"Doctor Mengele." World War II. Web. 18 May 2011.
"The boy in Striped Pajamas Art." "Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" - Film Adaptation Unit . Web. 18 May 2011.
"The Grey Zone Poster." celebritywonder. Web. 18 May 2011.
"The Woman From the Grey Zone." Landgirl's Library. Web. 18 May 2011.
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