My usual introduction does not seem appropriate for what I'm about to talk about, so I'll start with: his name is Zigi Shipper and he has changed my outlook on my everyday life. I am currently studying at University of Southampton and next year I have chosen a module called holocaust literature. I chose this as I love history and as this would be the last module of my course I thought I'd finish uni on a high. How does this tie in with Zigi? Well I received and email saying that Zigi was coming to give a talk and all the students taking the module next year were welcome to listen. I jumped at the chance as I have never met or spoken to a veteran let alone a holocaust survivor and i thought it would be eye opening.
Photo credit: Holocaust Education Trust.
Of course Zigi's story was harrowing and moving but what resonated with me was his positive attitude towards life. I'm the type of person to hold grudges and let the littlest thing annoy me and here is Zigi, someone who has nearly died 4 times and was subjected to racism for 5 years if not longer, laughing and joking. The only negative thing I heard him say, I mean subjectively, of course the racism and concentration camps were negative, was that he does not forgive the Nazis. He did not say he hated them or even that he disliked them, even though they killed three members of his family. That was important to him, to not hate, the note he left use with was 'I beg of you, please don't hate. you'll only end up hating yourself'. This really resonated with me. I took a look at my current outlook, where I get so annoyed over little things and on that spot in that lecture theatre I changed my thinking. To look at the positive things in life. My family, my relationships, everything I have that many are not fortunate enough to have.
After his talk was over I turned to my friend Sim and asked if she thought it would be alright if I went and shook Zigi's hand. She said go for it, so I went over to him and thanked him, shook his hand and said what an inspiration he was. We stayed an extra 20 minutes just talking to him about everyday life and what talks he had done recently. We ended up seeing a photo of his great great grandson, Zigi is 87, and he was so cute! It's amazing what life Zigi has had and what an inspiration he is to everyone. More of us should be like him.
Don't hate.
Photo credit: Holocaust Education Trust.
Of course Zigi's story was harrowing and moving but what resonated with me was his positive attitude towards life. I'm the type of person to hold grudges and let the littlest thing annoy me and here is Zigi, someone who has nearly died 4 times and was subjected to racism for 5 years if not longer, laughing and joking. The only negative thing I heard him say, I mean subjectively, of course the racism and concentration camps were negative, was that he does not forgive the Nazis. He did not say he hated them or even that he disliked them, even though they killed three members of his family. That was important to him, to not hate, the note he left use with was 'I beg of you, please don't hate. you'll only end up hating yourself'. This really resonated with me. I took a look at my current outlook, where I get so annoyed over little things and on that spot in that lecture theatre I changed my thinking. To look at the positive things in life. My family, my relationships, everything I have that many are not fortunate enough to have.
After his talk was over I turned to my friend Sim and asked if she thought it would be alright if I went and shook Zigi's hand. She said go for it, so I went over to him and thanked him, shook his hand and said what an inspiration he was. We stayed an extra 20 minutes just talking to him about everyday life and what talks he had done recently. We ended up seeing a photo of his great great grandson, Zigi is 87, and he was so cute! It's amazing what life Zigi has had and what an inspiration he is to everyone. More of us should be like him.
Don't hate.
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