1-22-11

Hello readers! Hope everyone is doing good. I just got back from eating lunch with my basketball team (+ the freshmen) and it was really really fun. We had a game right before, and we won by like 27 points! It was 50 to 23, I believe. I'm not completely sure though. I had 8 points, a few assists, steals, and blocks. It was really cool.

Anyway, I mentioned yesterday that a WW2 veteran came and spoke at our school, so right now I think I'm going to elaborate more on that. First off, he never actually went in to battle. He was a Lieutenant instructor at many forts, and for some reason his name never actually got put on the list to go and fight in Europe. Many of his friends, however, did end up on that list, and ended up losing their lives as a result. The man (Yale Gotsdiner) who was speaking started tearing up and had to stop talking for a little while when he was talking about how his 3 closest friends died in battle.

He also talked about how war really isn't necessary. Yale said our biggest problem as human beings is the inability to stop and talk out our problems. We just fight. Most of that time it's the fight for freedom. He also said, "Freedom is never free. Every generation is going to have someone trying to take it away from them." I thought that was pretty cool. And true. Whether the opposing force is another country, person, or government, it's probably going to happen no matter how old you are.

When asked if he thought if the war was worth fighting he said, "Do I think that World War 2 was worth fighting? No. I don't think anything is ever worth fighting." which, was followed by, "That's the way war is... there are no winners." That's like, the epitome of truth about war, or just fighting in general. There are never any winners. Ever. You may have "won" in terms of whoever didn't back out first, but still, you haven't won anything.

Yes, I took notes about what he said. I thought it was really cool. I mean, we always learn about what happened in WW2, but when you're sitting there, listening to someone who actually went through it all, it's almost... I don't know how to explain it other than, amazing. Same goes to the Holocaust survivors. I'm lucky enough to have seen 3 survivors speak. It's kind of crazy to think that, in a few years, there won't be any left.

Then again, you have some people that are the complete opposite. They think that their time isn't worth having. They don't listen.. some kid interrupted the WW2 vet. saying that he had to go get medicine for his broken arm, in the middle of him talking. Everyone was pissed at him. In all honesty, it was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen or heard in my entire life. Who does that?

That also reminds me of last year, when we saw a Holocaust survivor speak, and some girl in my grade goes, "Why does she keep talking? I don't care what she has to say." Those 2 sentences got me more mad than I have ever been in my life. Jesus Christ. I was going to say something to her, but she was sitting too far away from me, and I didn't want to be rude. God damn. I'm sorry, that was just ridiculous. My respect level went down to 0 the second that girl said that.

I'm done venting. I had to get it out to someone.

Alright. While we're on the topic of the Holocaust, and things of that nature, I was sitting with my friends on Friday, when a teacher came up to me and goes, "Hey, look at the TV! Do you recognize that?" (There are 2 TVs in that section of my school that continuously play projects by students, or random news segments) I was really confused, so I said, "No, I really don't what is it?" he said, "That's your iMovie, you made it last year in my class, don't you remember?" I watched it for a little bit, and it said, 'By: Laura Jenson' at the end, and replayed, then I remembered. I made the project in his class last year, about the several genocides that have happened in the past. Rwanda, Darfur, Germany, etc.

I thought it was just cool that he remembered me. Haha. Lame story, but it's alright.

Man, today's post was long. I had a lot to say. Some of these things have been on my mind for a while so it's good to get them out.