A revealing insight during yesterday's dinner...

How many times mothers and daugthers repeat the same things? Pretty soon, I will finally be moving away from Ohio in order to start an independent life in Ohio and, hopefully, in other countries as well. For some reason, my mother and I started talking about what life was like in Poland (I think it was because we were commenting about the cheating that goes on in Polish schools), and I asked her what it was like when she moved to America for the first time. She didn't want to go into specifics (which is normal for our family--we don't like to delve into deep, personal feelings, even though it would be psychologically beneficial for all of us).

I then asked how did Babcia (grandmother in Polish) reacted when she moved away to America? She replied that she was upset.

"That's why", my mother continued to say, "I cannot be upset that you are leaving. Because you are doing the same thing that I did to her many years ago. Once you have a child, you will begin to understand this feeling, of a parent wanting to hold onto her[his] child for as long as s/he can".

It's funny how behavior seems to repeat generation after generation, even when we proclaim that we do not want to be like our parents when we grow up.

Today on the "Oprah Winfrey Show", Oprah walked with Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, through the remnants of the major concentration camp in Poland. Watching this program conjured up all of the feelings that I experienced when I visited it last summer with my fellow WorldTeach volunteers.

Even though it is almost one year that I have visited the camp, the experience profoundly moved me, and I am still affected by it today. I am in awe of Professor Wiesel, as he, a Auschwitz survivor, was able to walk through the area where his family, and so many others, died.

The program was educational, it was good that others got a chance to see what it was like. But, it does not capture what it is like to walk around this camp, knowing that people died horrifically. First of all, the camp is large and vast (about the size of Manhattan). It is also eerily quiet, a place to honor and respect those who have died. However, I felt the souls of those who perished, almost like they were still crying.

I cried throughout my visit. I knew it was going to happen, but I am not ashamed of it. So what, if people looked at me strangely. No one mourned these individuals when they died, why can't I cry in order to honor their death?

I cried when I saw the names of individuals on their suitcases (thinking that they were being relocated to another place), seeing the pictures, seeing their shoes, their hair, and their baby clothes.

Whom have we lost by their senseless deaths? Poets, doctors, artists, lovers, mothers and fathers....Who was inhumane enough to kill these individuals? Worst of all, could I ever commit these crimes of inhumanity? Does everyone have a touch of evil within ourselves?

People should visit Auschwitz in order to remember. However, I am concerned that this is turning into a tourist site, instead of a place of reflection. It becomes another checkpoint on someone's itinerary, a "Disneyland of death"--once you see it, you can return back to your superficial lives.

After we visited Auschwitz, someone pulled me aside and said that since "he grew up reading the history, visiting the place does not affect me", as if I should be ashamed that I cried.

I DO NOT CARE WHAT HE SAYS. I am still affected by the images from the holocaust. To me, that's where the danger lies. Indifference only allows injustice to persist. People must have known what was going on, but they did not do anything about it. Where they afraid, indifferent? Unfortunately, events like the holocaust are still occurring in our world (ex. Sudan) and if we visit torture centers, read histories, and still do not feel anything, then genocide will still exist in our world.

This just makes me more committed to fight against social injustice throughout the world.

To paraphrase the ending of the show:

To those who died, we remember.
To those who survived, we hear your voice.
To the future generations, we will never forget.

Two days ago, I just finished reading a book entitled "Taking back the streets: Women, youth, and direct democracy" by Temma Kaplan. It's a truly fantastic book! There is so much that I don't know about Latin/Central America (ex. Chile and Argentia, as well as Spain) and its history. Reading the accounts of women who suffered so much under their military juntas was disturbing, profound, and inspiring...Women who have endured pain (i.e. torture, family members killed and "dissappeared"), yet found a way to organize with other women and youths to fight for democracy and social justice.

I truly believe that women can change the world and they can make this world more peaceful and a better place to live!

I definitely recommend this book to everyone! Be inspired by these women!

Yesterday was voting day in OHIO and also a debut on the beautiful, brand spanking new voting machines!

Unfortunately, in many parts of the state, they didn't work.

I was surprised that they even had these machines where I voted. I only assumed that they were setting them up only in Cleveland. However, even though it was the primary voting season, I did my civic duty and went to vote. Of course (which may reflect the voter apathy of many people) I was the youngest person in the room (and probably the youngest person out there voting yesterday). So, showing me how the machines worked was a breeze to the voting official. He remarked on how quickly i voted, making a general statement on how "people under the age of 60 are computer literate".

However, I am concerned about the quality of these machines. If anyone has problems voting, then the voting official would have to come over and help, noticing what/whom the person is voting for/against. These new machines are creating a lack of privacy.

Plus, while voting on a digital machine is more efficient than poking a pencil through a hole, could it be used to disenfranchise more people from voting? What if you are not computer literate? How would you vote? Those considerations must be kept in mind for voter reform.

It's already bad enough that voting officials have a hard time finding my name on the voter registration list--why should voting, which is a civic duty, be made into an excrutiatingly difficult process?