Silence Is Deadly; Speaking Is Healing

Pelican Fall First Nations High school - where I work as a counsellor had a special guest today, Eva Olsson. If you ever had the privilege of sitting at her feet and listening tell her story I count you as blessed. If you haven't then trust me, I highly recommend you do. The reason I say sitting at her feet, is that I felt like a little child; I felt vulnerable, captivated and horrified.  I had tears fill my eyes and stream down my cheeks, trying to keep a calm, cool, collected composure while I sat in a room full of teenagers.
Mrs. Olsson -a Holocaust Survivor -short of her 20th birthday, she and many other Hungarian Jews were shipped away in train boxcars..to hell on earth. With pain in her voice she spoke of her experiences while a prisoner, from her capture, the loss of her loved ones,  the appalling conditions, to her release. While sharing her experiences of what the power of hate can do, she stated  the importance of standing up to racism, bigotry and intolerance.  Many times throughout her presentation, with tears in her eyes she said she feels for the young people and  their parents and grand parents for having to go through the same sort of ordeal and how it must affect them today. I was touched by those word, deeply touched.
I was humbled with her presentation. She made me think of  times I have been so ungrateful of the things I had growing up. She pleaded with us to be thankful for family - all but one sister was taken from her. She pleaded with us to be thankful for the gift of education - that was taken away from her. She pleaded to not let circumstances take over our lives with silence. She said for 55 years she was silent and healing started the day she spoke about her circumstance...and is still healing.
In the end, I was deeply touched by the number of our teens who went  up to her to thank her, only to be hugged by her. I wanted to, yet I was afraid to. So I didn't  because I knew that when she would of hugged me I know for certain I would of cried like a baby. Why? That is for another day, another story.

You know, I've shared some things about my life with this blog. It is one thing to sit 'behind a keyboard' and let you in my life, but I know I need to share publicly if I need true healing to finish its course.

Chi-Meegwetch

Baamaapii

Here is a link to Mrs. Eva Olsson

http://www.evaolsson.ca/Main.aspx?ref=splash