Night, Chapter 3

None of us has experienced something like a Holocaust, but we have all experienced things that have shaped our lives and made us into the person who we are today. Many of those things, like Elie Wiesel's time in Auschwitz, are tragic and are things we WANT to forget...yet we cannot.

In Chapter 3 he writes about how those first sights at Auschwitz affected him...

Never shall I forget that night,
the first night in camp,
which has turned my life into one long night,
seven times cursed and seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the little faces of the children,
whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me,
for all eternity,
of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul
and turned my dreams to dust.
Never shall I forget these things,
even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.

Your task is to think about something in your life that changed you... something that left a mark on you that you "never shall forget"... it may not be tragic or destructive like the story of Elie, but we all have things that have changed us; things we will never forget.

Begin working on your own "Never shall I forget" poem. The due date has not been determined...for now, just think. Just remember.