Learning From The Example Of Others
Throughout history, human civilization has dealt with one crisis after another. So one of the best ways of handling a crisis is to see how others have done it in the past. ‘60 Minutes’ recently featured Holocaust survivors who recorded their stories in video form so future generations can remember and learn from all that they went through.
In one such story, a strong and healthy-looking man in his 80’s told about the Nazis coming to his small village in Poland when he was nine years old. They were rounding up Jews for deportation to a concentration camp. Fearing for their lives, his father told him to run, and he did – making it to the sewer line. He got in and crawled through it until he knew he was well out of sight.
He then ran to the home of an older couple who were customers of his parents’ butcher shop. At first, they didn’t want anything to do with him, but he cried and cried. Finally, they relented and took him up to a small room in their attic, telling him to stay there.
Over the next two years, he stayed all alone in that small room. Food was placed outside his door once a day. He remembered the hunger, the fear, the boredom, no family – nor anybody to comfort him or talk to. Most of all, he remembered the loneliness. He got so lonely that he pulled the wings off flies to keep them from flying away just so he would have some company.
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ABC Backwards
Throughout history, human civilization has dealt with one crisis after another. So one of the best ways of handling a crisis is to see how others have done it in the past. ‘60 Minutes’ recently featured Holocaust survivors who recorded their stories in video form so future generations can remember and learn from all that they went through.
In one such story, a strong and healthy-looking man in his 80’s told about the Nazis coming to his small village in Poland when he was nine years old. They were rounding up Jews for deportation to a concentration camp. Fearing for their lives, his father told him to run, and he did – making it to the sewer line. He got in and crawled through it until he knew he was well out of sight.
He then ran to the home of an older couple who were customers of his parents’ butcher shop. At first, they didn’t want anything to do with him, but he cried and cried. Finally, they relented and took him up to a small room in their attic, telling him to stay there.
Over the next two years, he stayed all alone in that small room. Food was placed outside his door once a day. He remembered the hunger, the fear, the boredom, no family – nor anybody to comfort him or talk to. Most of all, he remembered the loneliness. He got so lonely that he pulled the wings off flies to keep them from flying away just so he would have some company.
So how did he manage to survive? “By daydreaming,” he said. He wrote novels in his mind, adventure stories where he was the hero. “We can let our minds give in to fear and it can destroy us, or we can use our minds to keep ourselves alive. I chose to use my mind to stay alive,” he said. He had a goal of living to 25 so he could experience life as an adult. After the war, he somehow made it to the United States, where he built a good life for himself. He died only 2 years ago.
This is a fascinating story of the power of the human spirit. Seeing what others have gone through can give us the lessons and resolve we need to survive and even thrive in the midst of our own trials.
In touch…
Tom Howse
So how did he manage to survive? “By daydreaming,” he said. He wrote novels in his mind, adventure stories where he was the hero. “We can let our minds give in to fear and it can destroy us, or we can use our minds to keep ourselves alive. I chose to use my mind to stay alive,” he said. He had a goal of living to 25 so he could experience life as an adult. After the war, he somehow made it to the United States, where he built a good life for himself. He died only 2 years ago.
This is a fascinating story of the power of the human spirit. Seeing what others have gone through can give us the lessons and resolve we need to survive and even thrive in the midst of our own trials.
In touch…
Tom Howse