Never Again...

Next Tuesday, September 21st is International Day of Peace, a day set aside by the General Assembly of the United Nations to encourage all mankind to work together toward a goal of world peace. While the first Day of Peace was in 1982, it wasn't until 2002 that September 21st was designated as the permanent International Day of Peace. In the spirit of peace, I'd like to share with you a story:

Robbie Waisman was born in Skarszysko, Poland and is the youngest of six children. He was ten years old when the Nazis invaded his town and was fourteen years old when he was liberated from Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Robbie eventually emigrated to Canada as part of the Canadian War Orphans Project, which saw the admittance of over 1,000 Jewish children to Canada.

For many years Robbie did not tell anyone of his experiences, except his wife. However, when he heard there was a teacher in Alberta, Canada who was telling his students that the Holocaust was a myth, Mr. Waisman decided the time had come to share his experiences and, since then, he has spent a great deal of time speaking to high school students and other groups, including our own Everett Rotary Club, which is how I came to hear his story. Today, Mr. Waisman is the President of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and as an educator-speaker, as part of the Survivor Outreach Program; he has shared his experiences of the Holocaust with thousands of students.

He was a child when he was imprisoned and forced to slave in a concentration camp and he was a teenager when he was liberated and moved to a foreign country on his own. He survived the trauma of losing his parents and siblings and then growing up in a world where few understood what he'd been through. Over the years, he has transformed his life.

Mr. Waisman recounted that when he was young and the concentration camp was liberated, a promise was made..."Never again," which he took to heart. He has spent his later years working toward that goal: that the world must never allow what happened during WWII to happen again. Unfortunately, as Mr. Waisman pointed out, it is happening again. Not only in other parts of the world such as the Darfur region of Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Cambodia and others, but children are neglected, abused and trafficked right here in the Pacific Northwest.

So why is Deaconess Children's Services writing a blog article about International Peace Day and the story of a Nazi Holocaust survivor? Most of you are familiar with the mission of Deaconess Children's Services. For 113 years, Deaconess has been putting children first and transforming the lives of children throughout the Pacific Northwest by breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect. We can't do it alone - we need your help.

I know...those words are enough to strike fear in the hearts of most adults, but before you run away with anxiety, I'm not asking you to do anything too difficult. Children who experience neglect and/or abuse experience similar feelings of trauma, loss and fear that Mr. Waisman described in his story. Most of us agree that it is never acceptable for a child to be abused, starved, neglected, tortured, trafficked or enslaved, and that it is even worse when adults fails to act and protect them by preventing it from happening in the first place. Unfortunately, we don't always know how to act. Below are four, very practical, none too scary ways you can help:

1) Spend quality time talking with and playing with your children, or children in your life. Let them know how much they matter to you.

2) Volunteer your time in your community, helping children and others. Each of us matters to one another.

3) If you're able, donate money to a cause you feel strongly about, perhaps one that supports at risk children and youth; victims of abuse, violent crime or war; or one that prevents these issues from arising in the first place. It doesn't have to be much, whatever you have to offer. Every little bit counts...it all matters.

4) Visit www.internationaldayofpeace.org. Anyone, anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon or just sitting in silent meditation. It can even involve getting your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a large event. Imagine the impact that millions of people in all parts of the world, coming together, one at a time, for one day of peace, would have. It matters. You matter...we matter.

Perhaps, if each of us does just one thing in our community for someone else, we can eventually say..."it will never happen again."

How do you or will you show others they matter? We'd love to hear from you.