A Yom Hashoah Tribute, What should we really remember on this day?

I walked in to an apartment not really knowing what to expect.  A tall woman with high cheekbones and kind eyes greeted me at the door. Although I had never met her before, she was hardly a stranger. Paintings of little girls in vibrant colorful worlds holding the pain of visions that darkened their eyes lined the walls. The space and energy that held this home spoke of a complicated joy, despite the fact that joy had not been a constant for the woman with the contoured look of grace and beauty welcoming me into her home. Her name was Marika Roth. Standing at five foot five, Marika held an innocence that told of a childhood lost to the throws of World War two.  Thrown into the despair of a country taken over by the Nazies, Marika spent her childhood as a fugitive. Forced to fend for herself after escaping her own death after witnessing the execution of hundreds of Jews by the side of the Danube River in Budapest,  Marika became a lost orphan in the sea of hopelessness running starved and shoeless through the streets of Hungary Society had thrown her out like garbage and she found herself as a lone stranger in a cold world foreign to humane conditions. Her story continued as she finally immigrated to Canada, only to have been thrust into a forced marriage which lead to abusive conditions.

I had the chance to read Marika’s memoir, which has recently become a finalist for the book of the year, entitled “” title=”knowledge, understanding, wisdom, kindness, discipline, beauty, ability
to bond with others, humility, ambition, and leadership” target=”_blank”>knowledge, understanding, wisdom, kindness, discipline, beauty, ability to bond with others, humility, ambition, and leadership we can indeed transform past the pain of our realities that haunt us.

(Stay tuned for a new