A Single Raspberry

There is a story told on the glass walls of the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, MA. It's of a Jewish man who has been imprisoned in a concentration camp, and he sees a little German girl on the other side of the fence one day.

Somehow, the Jewish prisoner has managed to get a single raspberry while inside the camp, and as he is preparing to eat it, he sees the little girl, looking at him--staring at him. Without hesitating, he reaches his hand through the fence and gives the raspberry to the girl.

Years later--many years later--that girl grew up and remembered what the Jewish man gave to her. She had this to say: "Imagine a world in which your only possession is a single raspberry--and you give it away." The generosity of spirit from someone so abused remained with that little girl throughout her life, and changed forever the way she viewed the world.

This month in ELA, we'll be reading the powerful Holocaust memoir by Livia Britton-Jackson entitled, I Have Lived a Thousand Years. We'll be exploring the tragedy and inhumanity of the Holocaust, but we'll also see how the power of love and courage can be used today to stop the genocides that are occurring right now in our world. We'll look at the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and see how we can make a difference there.

Be ready to learn, grow, and consider ideas and perspectives you may never have before!