Lessons Learned

Yesterday, I read the book Night by Elie Wiesel for the first time. My daughter, Brynn, has read it several times and highly recommended it. Since she has had the book out lately, preparing for a school project that centers around this gripping, powerful, and emotional account, it seemed the perfect opportunity to delve in.
 
Night is a difficult book to read. Not because of the language or prose, but because it tells of Elie's horrific story of suffering through Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. His story is raw, brutally honest, and devastating. I read it from cover-to-cover and honestly, could not put it down once I started.
 
While the images of heartbreak and inhumanity that were told through theses pages will always stay with me, it was the courage and perseverance of Wiesel and his father that resonated most strongly as I read. The realization that life is so easily taken for granted, and the triviality of current day-to-day issues, seem so miniscule in the scope of what truly matters.
 
I found myself sitting silently for quite awhile after I finished the book just thinking. Thinking of Elie and of the Jews who suffered through such unthinkable madness. Thinking of the mental and emotional strength it took to relive these days and share it with the world. It was chilling, gripping and so powerful.
 
I then began to think of my life and how incredibly spoiled I am. Of the people around me and how lucky I am to be able to enjoy weeks, days, and moments with them. I realized how fortunate I am to have the opportunities I have. To have choices, freedoms, shelter, food. And I contemplated how easy it is to get caught up in trivialities; worrying about things that are inconsequential, when time and efforts should be directed toward love, learning, and sharing.
 
This book woke me up. Not only to the chilling reality of a horrendously unjust time in history, but to a really overwhelming sense of the need to be grateful and mindful. And while I cannot even fathom surviving the atrocities that Elie experienced, his fortitude and strength was inspiring beyond measure.
 
Be appreciative. Be kind. Be aware. Don't take life for granted. These consistent lessons of gratitude can never grow weary.