Nothing But the Truth

Well! This weekend certainly was interesting! Friday we didn't have class in the morning, so I took the opportunity to go running. I ran down the mall, past the Lincoln Memorial and up around the Washington Monument. On this run I passed the Korean, MLK, and WW2 memorials. It was a great run. It is so much fun to see these landmarks everyday. Class that afternoon was at the tax court. Now, you may be thinking, "Oh my gosh. What a boring place to be!!" Well, you are wrong. After a small speech from Judge Swift, we proceded to the court room. Our professor had assigned roles the night before, and we held a mock trial. In this trial, I was the injured plaintiff who was sueing my fellow classmate for running me over with his car. I pretended to be injured the whole time, even while giving my testimony of the events. The only things that were assigned were the roles. The story was ours to create, and each person took it a different way. It was like those stories where each person adds a new line. By the end of the trial, the defendant was gay, I was legally insane, and the attorneys were bullying the witnesses. The judge loved her gavel, and the jury was corrupt. It was a riot and so much fun!
On a less happy note, I went to the Holocaust Museum with some friends. I cried the whole time. It's one of those things that makes you so sad, but you have to go, just to see it. Before you begin you get an identification card that describes someone who really lived during the Holocaust. My girl's name was Rebecca. She lived in Greece. At the end of each floor you turn the page. She was married at 19. She was 21 and pregnant when the Nazis invaded Greece. The Red Cross saved her and hid her in a hospital where she safely delivered her baby. A few months later she was betrayed and executed. The baby was hidden in the hospital and lived. This made me so sad because she was my age, and she also had a little sister and little brother. The museum has many actual artifacts, such as the bunk beds, shoes, uniforms, and dishes from Auschwitz. They also have an actual railroad car that they were transported in. More importantly, they have a movie you can watch at the end of survivors telling their story. I remembered when the holocaust survivor came and spoke at SCHS. I got to meet him and talk to him, and his is an incredible story of overcoming his anger and abuse and putting it to good use by educating people. In school I feel like the holocaust was censored a little bit. At the museum they spare no detail. They have photos and video footage that I had never seen. One video showed a US solider helping an inmate to walk after liberation. The inmate was literally skin and bones. It was so sad. I can't describe what it was like in words. It made me so grateful for where I live, the United States where we have religious freedom and tolerance.