Monday, June 8

All Rivers Flow Into the Sea

President Obama with survivor Elie Weisel
Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany
by Associated Foreign Press


Alex and I went to the library last week. The book I wanted wasn't there. Alex had picked out all the books she wanted to read. All the books the library had about mice... and the latest Allie Finkle. I circled the shelves. I looked for my favorite authors, Hornby, Irving, Austen, Graham, nothing. I circled some more. Finally Alex was ready to leave. We had a graduation party to get to.

I grabbed a book that had caught my eye several times. A memoir of Elie Weisel. I read Night in school and I have heard him speak several times on CSPAN. "His life would be interesting to learn" I thought. As I started to read I realized that I had picked up the second half of his life, 1969 to whenever it was first published. This is not a book of his childhood. His struggles to survive and find a life after the war. This is about after all of that. His life as a writer, professor and lecturer. He writes about the people he has met. The events of the world that he has observed and participated in. Its interesting.

Then Thursday Obama visits Ciro. The time difference means that I can watch the speech live in the early morning hours. I found it intriguing. I wondered Where does this lead us to? and remembering the book I am now engrossed in, What does Weisel think about all of this? I wish I could pick his brain at this moment.

Friday I learn that Obama will be visiting Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The anniversary of D-Day is approaching. He will be remembering the victims of the Holocaust and touring the camp with Elie Weisel and a few others. I am intrigued. I read the transcripts. I am moved by the man whose memoir I picked up without thinking. Who has made me start thinking again.
Update: Last night I read the chapter of Weisel's involvement in the creation of what eventually became the US Holocaust Museum. This afternoon I went upstairs to lunch only to see CNN reporting that there had been a shooting. It seems a lone gun man walked into the museum and shot guard.

1 comment:

Jo said...

That sounds like a book I would love to read.

I think that is called serendipity, or is it synchronicity?