An old editorial
Convocation presentation should inspire us to help genocide survivors
Letter to the Editor
I was greatly moved and empowered by Nesse Godin’s speech to Southern Adventist University on Nov. 2, 2006. She spoke of her life during World War II in the Ghetto, in the concentration camp and surviving the death march. The stories she told were powerful and heart-wrenching, like how she suffered starvation and beatings that left scars on her back and across her neck. During her presentation I was moved many times by what she said. She said something I have taken to heart. She said that the Holocaust survivors have carried the bundle of memories and stories, and they won’t be able to carry it much longer. It was this statement that has been ringing in my ears since that Thursday.
After her presentation, I waited in line with others to tell her, “Thank you for coming,” but when it came to me I couldn’t say just that. I looked her in the eye and said, “Thank you. I want to help carry that bundle. Don’t worry; we will help to carry it for you. Don’t worry.” As I looked her in the eyes, I saw tears and I felt the tears in my own eyes.
Later that afternoon, I had the privilege of sitting down with Mrs. Godin to talk in the Student Services office. While chatting with her, she told me a story about how she went to the embassies in Washington, D.C. with the Committee of Conscience director to talk with the ambassadors on behalf of the committee about the genocides going on in the ambassadors’ countries. After the committee director said his bit, Mrs. Godin asked to say something. What she asked empowered me to stand up straighter and yell louder about the unjustices going on in the world. She asked the ambassadors in those committees, “How many meetings like this do you think were held while I was suffering in the concentration camp?”
How can those embassy members in that meeting just sit there after that comment? Mrs. Godin knows what it is like to truly suffer horrible things at the hands of hateful people. The world cried out after the Holocaust and said, “Never again can we let this happen!” Yet it does! How can we, as Southern students, not help change the world? I can no longer just sit at my desk and not say anything. We can no longer be ignorant and say, “We didn’t know,” because we do know now! Let us do our part to carry that burden for the survivors of the Holocaust, the survivors of the genocides in Kosovo and surrounding countries in 1995, and the survivors in Darfur, because there are still genocides going on right now, there are innocent people just like Nesse Godin who are suffering. Let us stand up and make a change. Let’s let our voices be heard!
Go to www.committeeonconscience.org for more information on what you can do to make a change on campus.
Submitted by Sonya Reaves
This story appeared on Thursday, November 9, 2006 in Volume 62, Issue 9.
Letter to the Editor
I was greatly moved and empowered by Nesse Godin’s speech to Southern Adventist University on Nov. 2, 2006. She spoke of her life during World War II in the Ghetto, in the concentration camp and surviving the death march. The stories she told were powerful and heart-wrenching, like how she suffered starvation and beatings that left scars on her back and across her neck. During her presentation I was moved many times by what she said. She said something I have taken to heart. She said that the Holocaust survivors have carried the bundle of memories and stories, and they won’t be able to carry it much longer. It was this statement that has been ringing in my ears since that Thursday.
After her presentation, I waited in line with others to tell her, “Thank you for coming,” but when it came to me I couldn’t say just that. I looked her in the eye and said, “Thank you. I want to help carry that bundle. Don’t worry; we will help to carry it for you. Don’t worry.” As I looked her in the eyes, I saw tears and I felt the tears in my own eyes.
Later that afternoon, I had the privilege of sitting down with Mrs. Godin to talk in the Student Services office. While chatting with her, she told me a story about how she went to the embassies in Washington, D.C. with the Committee of Conscience director to talk with the ambassadors on behalf of the committee about the genocides going on in the ambassadors’ countries. After the committee director said his bit, Mrs. Godin asked to say something. What she asked empowered me to stand up straighter and yell louder about the unjustices going on in the world. She asked the ambassadors in those committees, “How many meetings like this do you think were held while I was suffering in the concentration camp?”
How can those embassy members in that meeting just sit there after that comment? Mrs. Godin knows what it is like to truly suffer horrible things at the hands of hateful people. The world cried out after the Holocaust and said, “Never again can we let this happen!” Yet it does! How can we, as Southern students, not help change the world? I can no longer just sit at my desk and not say anything. We can no longer be ignorant and say, “We didn’t know,” because we do know now! Let us do our part to carry that burden for the survivors of the Holocaust, the survivors of the genocides in Kosovo and surrounding countries in 1995, and the survivors in Darfur, because there are still genocides going on right now, there are innocent people just like Nesse Godin who are suffering. Let us stand up and make a change. Let’s let our voices be heard!
Go to www.committeeonconscience.org for more information on what you can do to make a change on campus.
Submitted by Sonya Reaves
This story appeared on Thursday, November 9, 2006 in Volume 62, Issue 9.
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