Weather
Where is the sun, so bright and warm? It's missing under the fast moving clouds; covering the sky. They are white and gray. If only the sun could shine, but through those thinning clouds, the sun begins to shine. I see it reflecting off the cars in the parking lot. Oh mighty sun where have you been, with all that warmth and hope. The sky is showing in little spots between the clouds. The geese fly quickly, trying to get to their new destination. Now the sky has grown darker and the sun has drifted away again. This makes my hope and warmth begin to drift away. I get a deep feeling inside me that it is going to rain once more. Who knew the weather could change so quickly?
Fall
Children play outside and are beginning to get little red cheeks. Although they are sad summer is over, they now get to play in the newly fallen leaves that are all different shapes, sizes, and colors. The young children watch the birds that were just only goslings fly away for the winter, as they lay on the frosty grass. They go inside for some nice warm hot chocolate and get ready for bed so they can have a well needed sleep.
Morning has come and time to get up. They are so excited to go and talk with their friends about how much fun they had the past night. As they walk to the bus stop they chatter with joy. The morning was cold, so they quickly climb the short flight of steps onto the bus, which was toasty warm. They search for a an open seat to climb into; as soon as they are settled in they look at the frosty white window and make a small circle to look out of. The children are just realizing all the frost that had settled on the lawns and buildings. They reminisce about the great times they had had only a day ago. As the children look further outside they see the light fog flowing off the lake and the happy geese flying away for a warm winter.
Vel’ d’hiv Roundup
Being put between a rock and a hard place, what is the right thing to do? Let another person discriminate against people that don't deserve these consequences put on them and just watching all the innocent people die of something they have almost no control of? There is also the choice of war, which brings death to more people; although it is widely spread out. How do you decide between letting people die for no reason or going to war and potentially destroying everyone else? Neither side can win, so what do you choose? Who is left to die and who gets to survive? Forcing people to make this decision is cruel, but going along with discrimination is inhumane.
The French were inhumane for just letting the Nazi's kill the Jewish families of France and, also of Germany, and many other surrounding countries. Before the Vel' d'hiv roundup began, the Jewish were forced to be outcasts and, to symbolize this, there was the Jewish star. "A Jew who appears in public is obliged to wear a Jewish star. For the implementation of this order a Jew is everyone who was defined as a Jew. Children under the age of six are not included in this order. The Jewish star is a star with six corners, painted in black on yellow cloth the size of the palm of the hand, inscribed with the word “Jew.” It has to be sewn firmly and visibly at the left side of the clothing at the height of the chest. It is prohibited for Jews to wear official decorations, honorary decoration or other kinds of decorations." All of the inhumanity behind this law is outrageous and gruesome. Hitler had no heart, without any sense of kindness or reasoning. The only thing he wanted was to be in control and do things his way. The French had two very difficult choices: let the Nazi’s kill the Jewish families in France or say no and go to war. In the book Sarah's Key, the main character Sarah, and her family were living a free life. Sarah and her brother had numerous friends and used to go outside and play, but one day a law came out. It required Sarah and her family to wear the Jewish star. They were then the outcasts in France, but they weren't alone, 13,152 people were in the exact situation as them. At Sarah's school, there were two groups now, and they were separated by their religion. There were certain places they couldn’t go any more and they weren’t allowed to play outside anymore. Just like the segregation in the United States prior to the sixties, when black people were not allowed to use the same facilities as the whites. Their friends became enemies, which made Sarah dislike her religion and wish she were different. In Sarah’s lifetime why did religion cause her to be discriminated against and why was, and still is, the color of people’s skin a cause for discrimination in the United States? Neither of these events was right for anyone to do.
The Vel’ d’hiv roundup went from July 16th through July 17th, 1942. On these days, the French Police went by all the Jewish households, knocked on their doors, and forced the families to leave quickly and quietly. The Jewish people were only allowed to have one blanket, one sweater, a pair of shoes, and two t-shirts with them. In the book Sarah’s Key, when the police came, she had no idea what was going on. Once she found out that she had to leave her house, Sarah believed that she would be back very soon, so she locked her brother inside a secret cupboard. This was in order to protect him from the terrible things going on. All he had was a flashlight and some water. What Sarah didn’t know, was that she would be taken to the Véledrome d’hiver for many days. It was a surprise to everyone, that the Germans had the French police gather all of the Jewish families currently living in France.
During the Vel' d'hiv roundup, the inhumanity continued with the Jewish being forced to leave their homes and go to the Véledrome d' hiver, where the French police guarded the exits. They were packed into the Véledrome tightly and the stench from all the bodies grew and grew, everyday it grew and spread further. Everyone was starving and going crazy. People began to die and the bodies were stacked into corners. In the book Sarah's Key, there was a mother and her small child that jumped from a section in the Véledrome. This ended up killing her and her son, in a relief from the dreadfulness that had come upon her life. It is not right that people have to relieve themselves from such stress and revulsion by committing suicide. Also, Sarah's mother became unable to care for her and was barely responsive about anything. She lost sight of herself, since her son was locked away and she felt there was not much left to live for. No person is expected to withstand such horrifying events that happened, but you would think they’d try to be stronger for their family.
Having to make such difficult choices is hard and, following along with the unfair treatment, is merciless. When put in this position, always think about what is in the best interest for all and don’t let one person make the choice for you. There might not always be an easy solution.
