the Heart of Irena Sendler
if you haven't heard about Irena Sendler, read here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler
this is the letter she wrote to the American students which "discovered" her:
IRENA SENDLER'S LETTER
Hello and greetings from very far away but from the bottom of my heart to all of you gathered in Kansas City. I regret that my age and condition do not allow me to attend this meeting. I know that despite the distance we are close to each other, as friends to think and feel in similar ways. I know there are many of us and that, thanks to teachers like Norman Conard and my "quartet", there will be more and more.
I now think about the people with whom I worked with during the war, those who paid with their lives for saving others and those who helped people whose life was in danger, because they considered it their duty. Let us make today's celebration a multiple one through the symbolic participation of those who should be here with us rejoicing every life that has been saved.
"Whosoever preserves one life - it is as though he has preserved the entire world", is the motto inscribed on the medal for the Righteous Among the Nations. This is a very beautiful and true sentence. I believe that, thanks to you and other your people like you, can the world and humanity be saved.
In a technocratic world, preoccupied with material well-being, there is less and less space for compassion, friendliness and selflessness. In a world of religious and ethnic strife, we need the example of Elizabeth, Megan, Sabrina and Janice, who speak of love and tolerance, and judge people by whether they are good or bad, and not anything else.
I offer thanks to God for letting me live into the 21 century and meet these girls and their teachers. What I believed in and did all my life as a pedagogue, has come back to me as the good brought from the other hemisphere by these four American girls. By visiting me in my home in Warsaw, you gave me the most wonderful present, one I did not even dream of.
Today's celebration, at which I am present with my heart and thoughts, would not be possible without the involvement of the B'nai Jehudah Synagogue. Thank you, friends. Let us pray together to God for peace in the world and for human compassion, which will not let people stay indifferent children's suffering. Present here with you today are: Renata and Elżbieta with her daughter Ania. My rescued children include the children, grandchildren and further generations of those saved. I do care for their future and my wish is that their lives are full of joy, fortune and happiness. My spirit is with you, and I think that I have been given a long life to give testimony to the belief that the world is neither good nor evil. It is up to us what it is like and how we leave it for future generations. It is up to our hearts and memories, which ought to prompt us which way to go. I wish such friendly prompts to all of you and to myself.
Yours, Irena
taken from:
polish-jewish-heritage.org/eng/life_in_a_jar.htm
No 28
the Heart of Irena Sendler
if you haven't heard about Irena Sendler, read here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler
this is the letter she wrote to the American students which "discovered" her:
IRENA SENDLER'S LETTER
Hello and greetings from very far away but from the bottom of my heart to all of you gathered in Kansas City. I regret that my age and condition do not allow me to attend this meeting. I know that despite the distance we are close to each other, as friends to think and feel in similar ways. I know there are many of us and that, thanks to teachers like Norman Conard and my "quartet", there will be more and more.
I now think about the people with whom I worked with during the war, those who paid with their lives for saving others and those who helped people whose life was in danger, because they considered it their duty. Let us make today's celebration a multiple one through the symbolic participation of those who should be here with us rejoicing every life that has been saved.
"Whosoever preserves one life - it is as though he has preserved the entire world", is the motto inscribed on the medal for the Righteous Among the Nations. This is a very beautiful and true sentence. I believe that, thanks to you and other your people like you, can the world and humanity be saved.
In a technocratic world, preoccupied with material well-being, there is less and less space for compassion, friendliness and selflessness. In a world of religious and ethnic strife, we need the example of Elizabeth, Megan, Sabrina and Janice, who speak of love and tolerance, and judge people by whether they are good or bad, and not anything else.
I offer thanks to God for letting me live into the 21 century and meet these girls and their teachers. What I believed in and did all my life as a pedagogue, has come back to me as the good brought from the other hemisphere by these four American girls. By visiting me in my home in Warsaw, you gave me the most wonderful present, one I did not even dream of.
Today's celebration, at which I am present with my heart and thoughts, would not be possible without the involvement of the B'nai Jehudah Synagogue. Thank you, friends. Let us pray together to God for peace in the world and for human compassion, which will not let people stay indifferent children's suffering. Present here with you today are: Renata and Elżbieta with her daughter Ania. My rescued children include the children, grandchildren and further generations of those saved. I do care for their future and my wish is that their lives are full of joy, fortune and happiness. My spirit is with you, and I think that I have been given a long life to give testimony to the belief that the world is neither good nor evil. It is up to us what it is like and how we leave it for future generations. It is up to our hearts and memories, which ought to prompt us which way to go. I wish such friendly prompts to all of you and to myself.
Yours, Irena
taken from:
polish-jewish-heritage.org/eng/life_in_a_jar.htm
No 28