Auschwitz

It’s been a long time since I was left truly speechless. For a girl who thrives off the written word and verbal expression it is a scary thought when comprehension is best left unarticulated. I went to Auschwitz this weekend in Krakow, Poland and spent the day touring the world’s most severe death camp, the most prominent visual proof of man’s capability for evil I have ever seen.  But I can’t actually explain what I saw let alone what it was like.  Words have no weight in situations like this. It took me almost two hours after the trip to even open my mouth. I was paralyzed with fear that my process of comprehension would dishonor the lives of those who suffered. I mean I could tell you that the first time I realized I was crying was when I felt water on my shoulder as if my soul knew something my mind had not yet grasped. I could tell you that I kneeled at the foot of the gas chamber, touching the same floor where millions of women and children suffocated to death, silently praying for forgiveness.  I could tell you I stopped breathing at the sight of scratches in the wall, desperate prayers of men who went crazy from isolation and fatigue. But what would that do? Can such evil even be expressed? How do you put it into words?  I actually cringed on the bus ride home at the sound of this girl behind me whispering ‘wow… that was so sad’ in this emotionless tone.  It wasn’t sad. It was wrong.   Sad does not have enough grief, enough pain, enough utter despair built into the word to even begin to grasp what went on there. So I guess that’s all I can say. I pray for the past, present and future victims of ignorance mixed with hate. I pray for similar atrocities currently taking place all around the world. I pray for the wounds that never healed. I pray over the injustice that still lingers in the air. I pray the world can remember history so as to prevent it from being relived.  I pray for forgiveness.  I pray for Jesus to come back.