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I was adopted at birth & raised as an only child w/ 5 adults in my home:
Parents, maternal grandparents & an “uncle.”
My parents were much older than is common. My mother was 40 & my father 56 when I was adopted. My mom still worked, so she wasn’t home much...
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Parents, maternal grandparents & an “uncle.”
My parents were much older than is common. My mother was 40 & my father 56 when I was adopted. My mom still worked, so she wasn’t home much...
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...when I was small. But she was the youngest adult in our house. Everyone else was old, weak or had serious health problems. So I often had to find my own entertainment, bcuz there really wasn’t anyone to play with.
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I learned to be creative bcuz I had a short attention span (still do) and got bored easily. Watching tv just didn’t cut it for me.
One of the things I discovered early on was that I genuinely enjoyed deep, meaningful conversations. But the only adult in my house willing to...
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One of the things I discovered early on was that I genuinely enjoyed deep, meaningful conversations. But the only adult in my house willing to...
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talk with a five year old about deep stuff was “uncle.”
Beside our family, he was pretty much alone in the world.
(He wasn’t actually an uncle in the relative sense, but a close family friend that I referred to as “uncle.”)
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Beside our family, he was pretty much alone in the world.
(He wasn’t actually an uncle in the relative sense, but a close family friend that I referred to as “uncle.”)
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The thing about Uncle is, he NEVER lied. He didn’t believe in lying to children, not even about Santa. Whenever I asked him questions he’d always speak the truth.
I learned to trust him for this reason. I knew he’d never mislead me. He ALWAYS told the truth, even if it stung. 5/
I learned to trust him for this reason. I knew he’d never mislead me. He ALWAYS told the truth, even if it stung. 5/
I don’t remember how the conversations began. Maybe I asked him where his mother/father were? Or if he had brothers/sisters?
He showed me the numbers tattoo’d on his arm & told me the story about how he came to be his family’s sole survivor during Hitler’s reign.
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He showed me the numbers tattoo’d on his arm & told me the story about how he came to be his family’s sole survivor during Hitler’s reign.
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His family was living in Poland at the time. They were arrested & taken to a camp & separated. He & his father were secured in a bldg w/ other men on one side of the camp, while his mother & 2 sisters were housed on the other side w/ the women. They couldn’t see each other.
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He said one blistering wintery night, the men heard a ruckus & rushed to the window. He said he & his father watched a group of girls & women, all stark naked, being marched in a procession toward a building on the far side of the camp.
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His mother & sisters were in that line.
They were ordered inside & never again emerged (I assume now that was a gas chamber?).
His father, already severely weak & despondent, hardly left the window after that night. He was in denial.
Eventually he came to realize...
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They were ordered inside & never again emerged (I assume now that was a gas chamber?).
His father, already severely weak & despondent, hardly left the window after that night. He was in denial.
Eventually he came to realize...
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he would never see them again. Soon after he grew ill & died in my uncle’s arms.
Luckily my uncle was strong & healthy so he survived for a while working in the camp. Then the war ended and the prisoners were freed.
But he had no family left, nowhere to go home to.
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Luckily my uncle was strong & healthy so he survived for a while working in the camp. Then the war ended and the prisoners were freed.
But he had no family left, nowhere to go home to.
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My adopted mom & dad took him in. Everyone else he knew died or went missing.
The uncle I knew was a quiet man. Didn’t speak much. He was the observant one, watching from the shadows. He always saw the best in ppl, but was also an excellent judge of character.
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The uncle I knew was a quiet man. Didn’t speak much. He was the observant one, watching from the shadows. He always saw the best in ppl, but was also an excellent judge of character.
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He said he immigrated to America bcuz he knew what happened to him in Poland could never happen here. He assured me I would have a good & safe life bcuz our govt would never permit a dictator who tortures & murders innocent ppl to take power.
But he also said,...
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But he also said,...
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“Watch out for the little things”
He said there were signs b4 it was obvious, that in hindsight made perfect sense
He said Hitler was poo-poo’d in his neighborhood, no one took him seriously. No one thought he’d do the things he did. He was a joke. Until the day he wasn’t.
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He said there were signs b4 it was obvious, that in hindsight made perfect sense
He said Hitler was poo-poo’d in his neighborhood, no one took him seriously. No one thought he’d do the things he did. He was a joke. Until the day he wasn’t.
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He said one more thing that I will forever remember:
That there’ll always be good in this world & that it’s incumbent on us to believe in it. The day we stop believing in the good is the day the bad wins.
He said believing in goodness is what helped him to survive.
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That there’ll always be good in this world & that it’s incumbent on us to believe in it. The day we stop believing in the good is the day the bad wins.
He said believing in goodness is what helped him to survive.
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When I was 23, I heard he had been moved to hospice.
I visited him on the day before he died. He was the first person in my life to inspire me, & I was the last person in my family to see him alive.
He will forever live in my heart.
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I visited him on the day before he died. He was the first person in my life to inspire me, & I was the last person in my family to see him alive.
He will forever live in my heart.
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I realize you didn’t know him. And there is no possible way for you to genuinely FEEL his spirit. But I kinda think he shared his message w/ me bcuz he knew there would come a time that I might share it with you...
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“Never stop believing in the good bcuz believing in the good is what keeps it alive.”
Not a hateful bone in his entire body. No resentment. No revenge. No contempt. No rage. No venom. Not even anger. Just pure gentleness. The kindest & most compassionate man I’ve ever known.
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Not a hateful bone in his entire body. No resentment. No revenge. No contempt. No rage. No venom. Not even anger. Just pure gentleness. The kindest & most compassionate man I’ve ever known.
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