Thursday, June 26, 2014

Not your average throwback Thursday...

Today is Thursday, and everyone knows what that means! Our newsfeeds are going to be
flooded with selfies of the past, pictures of long-lost friends, and relatives
near and dear to our hearts. Usually, you would see that from me, but not this
time. This past week has brought a journey into self-awareness that I want to
share.

This past week, I took a break from Facebook to figure things out and to try to
straighten out my life a little bit. After graduating college, everyone has
been asking what I’m going to do next. I tried figuring that out, but that isn’t
something that happens overnight. I also got a lot of reading done. Since
college started, I’ve done a lot of reading on the Holocaust. Thanks to a few
research papers on the evolution of Jewish music during this time, I’ve done my
fair share of reading into the history of the whole event. I’ve had this desire
to dig deeper into this dark time in history to answer a few questions I’ve had.
How could a group of people be so hateful to try and destroy another group of
people like this? More importantly, how could it have gone so far before it was
ended? After much searching, I can’t find an answer. However, I found something
that I did not expect to find: Hope.

Never have I felt so disgusted from reading the stories I did.

But, never have I seen so much HOPE and FAITH from reading the stories I did.

“I believed that God was watching the indifference of the world, and that God, Himself, was brokenhearted as well.”

There were stories and images that would break your heart. There were even accounts
of people praying to God and believing he would save them from death at the
last second, even as they were choking on their final breaths. One survivor
wrote that there was such a peace and calmness in the eyes of many of these
people, even though they knew what was coming.

I couldn’t believe it. In a place that I would consider a “Hell on Earth”, there
was PEACE in the eyes of these people. I was choking back tears as I was
reading these autobiographies from the horrors described. I was also choking
back tears from the faith I saw unfolding, even after all of the torture and
pain they went through.

“They could break my body, but they couldn’t break my faith.”

Through this, I learned about a vibrant culture ripped to shreds by HATE. The only
thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. We all
need to do our part in the world by spreading love, one person at a time. Whether
it is at work, in the store, or just walking down the street, we need to show
LOVE. No matter how much HATE someone spews at you, responding in LOVE does much
more than responding back with hate. Through all of this, we ALL need to show
LOVE. It’s not something I’m great at by any means. Showing love means smiling
at people, taking an interest in their day, even just responding to a text from
them. I’m sorry for the downer, but this is something that has been weighing on
my heart and I needed to share.

In short, I want to apologize to everyone I have neglected to respond to, to everyone I have snapped at because I “didn’t have my coffee
yet”, and to everyone that I’ve just lost touch with. I love each and every one of you and I will make it up.

My challenge to you today is to show someone some LOVE, even if it’s just smiling at them. Thank you for reading my somewhat scrambled thoughts for the day. Have a great day and show some love :)
Also, if you want to listen to a beautiful piece of music, check out "Quartet for the End of Time" by Olivier Messiaen. It's a beautiful piece of music composed by a French soldier, imprisoned in a German POW camp for clarinet, piano, cello, and violin.

Twins

My whole life, people have been asking me, "What's it like to be a twin?" I have never had a good answer for it, until now...

Being a twin meant that I was never alone. It meant that I always knew someone in school. I never had to walk home from school or ride the bus alone. 

During our high school graduation, I had my best friend sitting next to me during the ceremony and during the tedious rehearsal.

When we both went to different colleges in different cities, we bonded over our experiences. 

He always answers the phone when I call (no matter how late it is or how ridiculous the reason is), makes me laugh when I'm feeling upset, and knows the right things to say.

Rob had a hard time when we were kids with being bullied because he was different and looked like Harry Potter. When we got to high school, it all changed. The bullying ended. I was ecstatic, it was awful watching my brother get ridiculed on the playground and while we were in class in middle school, and I couldn't even imagine how he felt.

What was inspiring about my brother, is that even though these kids put him through hell for about 8 years of his life, he forgave them and didn't even blame them for their behavior. He told me that they were just kids and didn't know what they were doing. I doubt he remembers this conversation, but it stuck with me.

What is it like being a twin? It is the most amazing thing in the world. I love him.

Happy birthday Rob <3