Wwii @ MindSay

Growing up as a kid I've never been close to my mom's side of the family. By that I mean I rarely seen them. But now as I'm older I realize that even though I see my Dad's side of the family a few times a year, I realize I know little about them as well.

 

On Father's day, my parents and I (my brothers were working, I beleive) went to see my grandpa (dad's dad) and we stayed there longer than usual because we were talking about a recent event that went on my Mom's side of the family with him and my Aunty Lena and Uncle Paul who were there. I'm not going to say what the even was, because it's highly personal and I've been basically forbidden to talk about it to anyone other than the family.

 

But anyways, after they left we chatted for a while, and I found out my grandpa had been in the air force during WW2 in England! Growing up I got a lot of mixed signals and I thought I was told he was a chef in WW2, or a shopkeeper. But now I know the truth that he loaded planes for people-some people he knew flew bombs over Berlin. Thank god he never had to fly planes or do any bombing. Even now over 60 years later, he is absolutely against going into planes because of that.

 

After hearing this I was absoluetly astonished. I'm big into research WW1 and 2, and after watching movies such as "Flyboys" (a WW1 movie, but still) I never dreamed of someone I knew stocking planes like that. I got to say my grandpa is becomming an inspiration to me. I just wish I would have know this information even a year ago. He'll be 92 in August and although in pretty good health for his age....well, you know the rest...

 

However, he is not the only person I've gained a new appreciation for. MY aunty Cathy, who is in her early 60's, has been a part of different quires for a long time, and it turned out that one time (I'm not sure when, I'm going to have to ask her) she sang for the Queen of England with her quire! It just amazes me how little I know about the people I've grown around. I really want to learn more about them. They've accomplished so much and are still living to do even more great things for their family. I can only hope I can do a lasting favour for them.

 

-Kristal  

June 6 1944. The day thousands of our men lost their lives for the freedom of all of us. Thank you, we owe everything to everyone who fought there and who died there. Thank you.

 

 

Matt

 

Be Excellent, Because We Are FREE

"England and France said they would fight Hitler if he took land form Poland. Hitler did not believe them. Besides Hitler now had a new friend. Hitler's new friend was the dictator Stalin. Hitler and Stalin said that they were friends and would help eachother. In September, 1939, Hitler made war on Poland."

 

That is an actual excerpt from my history homeowork. Obviously, this was written for 4th or 5th graders. I'm in 11th. Hitler had a new friend? Come on now. They talk about WWII like it was a game on the playground, & Hitler was the mean bully. Yeah, they actually say "The agreement at Munich is called appeasement. (Appeasement means to give a bully something because he says he will hurt you.)"

 

He probably didn't read through & realize that this is not meant for our grade level. All he does is give out worksheets & show videos, that's it. He sucks at teaching, and his personality is not too great either. A typical day of his class: review of yesterday's nothingness, 1 page of notes, video clips, handouts, more video clips, then a long boring video. Everyday.

 

"pathetically lacking in force or effectiveness"-2nd definition of Lame.

May 7 1945, Germany surrenders, Victory in Europe is won. Thanks for your sacrifice boys, we will never forget what you have done for us.

 

 

Matt

 

Be Excellent

Last month a woman by the name of Eva Mozes Kor came and spoke at a school.
I attended out of curiosity because she was a Holocaust survivor.
Turns out she was one of the survivors of Doctor Josef Mengele's experiments on twins in World War Two. (For those of you who have absolutely NO concept of history, the Holocaust happened during World War Two (WWII). If you don't know what the holocaust was go read your history books and look for the 1940s. Wikipedia is not a resource. Go get off your chair and get an encyclopedia if you don't have a history book. Failing that go to the Online Encyclopedia Britannica.)
She forgave the Nazis even though they did all sorts of nasty things to her.
She is Jewish and has been rejected by some of her own people for forgiving the Nazis.
I think if this woman could bring herself to forgive her worst enemy, shouldn't the rest of us be able to at least forgive the most petty of things?

To get more of her story go to her museum website here.