Choices

Every human makes choices, and each choice you make can change the world. My class and I went on a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance on February 10. When we arrived at the museum it was brightly lit. As we walked down the winding white ramp we noticed a statue at the bottom of the ramp. The statue depicted the star of David with a human lying in a position of agony. This museum took us through a long exhibit which was dedicated to the Holocaust. I didn’t realize the horrible and devastating things that one man can do to another until visiting the museum. I learned that millions of people were killed just because other people needed someone to blame for their problems. I believe that choices make up the world and little decisions can make huge differences. The decisions of Hitler and the Nazis resulted in the death of millions of Jews and people who did not fit his idea and image of the superior race. The Museum showed me a new perspective on what awful things people are capable. In everyone's life, you will need to make a decision to do what is morally right. During our visit to the museum, we went through a long exhibit, in which we were showed the timeline from the beginning of the Holocaust to the end. Tears streamed down my fellow classmates face, for what we saw shocked all of us. We saw pictures of people being put in cages, then thrown on a train being sent to almost certain death. These people did nothing wrong, but just because of what they look like, and their beliefs they were tortured and killed. A few people realized that what was going on was wrong, and decided to do something about it. This wasn’t a large group of individuals, but even a small group can make a difference. This brings me to the people who helped save and smuggle the Jews during the Holocaust. These people knew what was morally right, and made what they knew and what many others knew was the morally right choice. Everyone around them was making the wrong decision, but that did not influence them. Something, somewhere, was telling them what was morally right. Instead of working with the Nazis to exterminate the Jews, they worked against them to save the Jews. They knew that if they were caught, they would be killed, but if they weren’t, they would have changed the world for one person and perhaps thousands, in doing so they could slowly change the world. These people are heroes.

There will come a time in one’s life where you or another will be forced to make a choice, and that one choice can make all of the difference.