Lost In A Deployment

My blog is about Love, Peace, && harmony and i truly believe that.  being married to marine i experience first hand what war can do to the families that fight them. i also get see what it does to the men that fight them. even with the support of their families it can be dark and painful. my husband wrote this poem while on deployment in Afghanistan. His first to Afghanistan but second deployment total. here is just a glimpse of what life is like for a deployed US Marine. 

LOST IN A DEPLOYMENT

By. Cpl. Stephen W. Oldenburg

United States Marine Corps

Pain and sorrow,

Emptiness and loneliness,

Being lost and scared,

Tired and wore out,

Just some of the feelings of this job,

Nothing out here to fix the problem,

Living thousands of miles away from the answer,

Living in the heat and sand,

Protecting them from afar,

The only way to make it through,

Is the thought and memories of them,

Hearing their voices breaks the darkness,

But knowing everything I am missing,

Just brings on more pain, more darkness,

The pain I can not handle anymore,

But I got to be a man, a husband a father,

A MARINE,

The only thing I can do is wait,

Picture them waiting for me,

The fact that they are still standing by my side,

Makes me wonder why,

Why are they waiting for me, 

Why are they so dedicated to me,

Why do they stand by my side through hell,

How do they stay so strong,

I am a man,

But the thought of them doing all this,

Makes me break down,

It makes me cry,

Not from happiness but from fear,

Fear of me not knowing the answers,

Fear of me not knowing what I have to offer,

To make them stay,

Fear that one day they will be fed up,

Fear one day they will leave,

Once again the shard of darkness comes,

Hopefully one day the answers will come,

And the darkness will lift,

And I will be able to see the answers,

One day I will be complete,

That day is when I am with them again,

Not a thousand miles away,

But standing by their side,

Being there for them,

Giving my all,

Being who I need to be,

A HUSBAND ,FATHER, AND A MARINE!!

Children's Holocaust Memorial

In my previous post I wrote about children and their ability to love.  in my research i stumbled across a website, http://www.mensetmanus.net/paperclip-children-holocaust-memorial/, it amazes me how change can be so easy.  The children who put together this memorial will grow up learning and knowing of the consequences of intolerance.  

The memorial itself consists of an authentic German railroad car that was used to transport Holocaust victims to concentration, labor and various death camps. The children of Whitwell Middle School collected eleven million paperclips to be housed in the railroad car. One for each of the victims of the holocaust. 

The car itself sits on railroad track from 1943. the community help build the steps and create the surrounding park.

IN THIS CAR

Diesel fumes and crackling wood
Cold steel tracks and nothing good
Mid the tears and burning eyes
Slam the door - hear their cries

Scorching iron of the wheels
They could not speak -
There were no deals
In the shadows they all stood -
Cold steel tracks and nothing good

On to Auschwitz, Treblinka, and hell
So very few were left to tell
Of that time we honor today
But we thank God -
There's more to say

For as we stand - united here
We honor them with every tear
For in this car is light and love
And God's own mercy from up above

We place this monument
On hallowed ground
For all to come and stand around
And touch the place where they once stood
Open the door - there's something good!

Judge Bob Moon 

Never Doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed students can:

"CHANGE THE WORLD - ONE CLASS AT A TIME".

Hitler: The Pathology Of Evil

I'm reading this book called Hitler: The Pathology of Evil 

Here's what I know so far:

Hitlers grandmother was knocked up by someone (no one is really sure who that is).  He has been believed to have been Jewish. However, there was never any proof to that story, but enough speculation that most people believed it to be true.

Hitlers father was so determined to be successful because he had no father i.e no inheritance. He was greedy, abusive and selfish. He wanted his sons to follow in his footsteps and become officers of the civil service. He beat his children (especially Hitler) and their mother. Hitler blamed his fathers behavior on the speculation of him being half Jewish. Hitlers mother treated him like an invalid and indulged his every whim. He was by far her favorite. When she eventually died of cancer, Hitler blamed his father and his supposed Jewish decent. 

I started reading this book in hopes to understand where hate comes from and why people hate.  But the more i read the more ridiculous it gets. Hitler believed that his father was Jewish and that is what caused his evil behavior. Not only has that never been proved, but what gets me is what gave him a reason to blame the Jewish race? Why not Austrian? 

So although the book has begun to explain to me Hitlers circumstances, there is still no logical reason for Hitlers evil ways. I do believe that hate is taught/learned. No one is born hating. Babies cant help but love and children don't even realize that people are different colors until it is pointed out to them. 

Ahhh, to have child-like faith and innocence.  How amazing would the world be if children ruled?? there would be no war and no hate. only love. Ever watch children at the park? They instantly bond and declare everlasting friendships, even if they only last for that afternoon. Then imagination takes over and they are flying to the moon and going to the center of the earth to battle dragons. When do we lose that faith and trust? When do we start to take ourselves so seriously? 

Children love unconditionally and with out question. It is adults that teach them different. In most case we do not do so intentionally, but children see and hear more then we think or expect them to.  And they understand way more then we give them credit for. 

The Holocaust has shaped the world in a way. When I think of Jews i think, Holocaust, Hitler, and genocide. I can see the pictures in my head. I lost my child like faith long before i discovered that book, but i knew even then that i would never look at the world the same. I couldn't understand how some one could hate so indefinitely and so completely. Even today ten years later I can't understand. The world sees the Holocaust and all to often doesn't realize that the Holocaust wasn't the first nor the last Genocide to occur. I guess that's my point, the world needs to know that blind evil hate still runs ramp id in the world today. What can we do to stop it?

Tolerance

I'm 21 years old and its taken me most of my life to finally find my purpose in life. I didn't realize that everything i experienced as a child was determining my destiny if you will. all my life i have had this innate desire to help people. No, more then help to take care of people. its a blessing and a curse.  I discovered the Holocaust, or i should say the Holocaust found me when i was 11 years old. even then when i was too young to truly understand hate my heart broke for the walking skeletons and lost souls. all my life i experienced hate and intolerance simply because i was born bi-racial. Today i believe strongly in destiny and fate and i believe you do with it what you choose. i choose to take my passion for helping people and fighting against intolerance and hate and use it to change lives. the statement "cant we all just get along?" may be a joke to most people but in all honesty if we could just learn to live with compassion and love how different would the world we live in be? people have been afraid to stand up against hate and injustice if it doesn't directly effect them. I refuse to be silent any longer. i realize that this is just a blog but some one will read it and i hope that it will make them think and maybe they will be a little kinder to their neighbor the next time they speak. there are so many things that go on in this world and people refuse to take a stand because its just in Africa or south America, what happens if its in you neighborhood? who will take a stand for you? 

"I swore never to be silent whenever & where ever human beings endure suffering & humiliation, we must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Eli Wiesel  

Purpose

So lately I've been really unsatisfied with my progress in life as far as my professional goals go.  There are so many things that  I want to accomplish in life and i have yet to take the steps towards those goals. I'm hoping that i can use this forum to express myself and brian storm my ideas and maybe at the same time touch some ones life. what i write here is only my opinion. How ever i plan to back my views with research and fact. I just need to get my thoughts together so i know where to start. advice, opinions, arguments and any thing else is more then welcome. 

thanks!!

Liz