Poland to Prom

It's hard not to think about where I was and who I was with just over a month ago.

300+ Toronto participants braved ourselves and boarded the plane for Poland on April 27th--heading for the hell that we will never fully comprehend.

Where our family, my family, was brutally murdered--left in a pile unnamed, alone and spit on. All because we were Jews.

I can't imagine the thoughts that passed through the survivors' minds as we walked through the barracks, the gas chambers and all the towns where their families once were and mostly where their families lives were taken away.

The looks on my participants' faces as they heard survivor testimonials. The reactions that were triggered by the sight of the crematorium. The amount of tears that dripped onto my fleece as the participants cried on my shoulder. Tears of the third generation who have now been struck with the responsibility, the torch to remember will stay with me forever and will continue to inspire me.

In never forgetting, I believe we need to constantly remind ourselves that we are here and while Hitler tried to stop this, we must celebrate how far we have come and find ways to be inspired to do more. We are here. We are not silent and we will dance.

We also need to remind ourselves that its okay to celebrate. We owe it to the survivors to do this. Holocaust remembrance, though hearing stories are at the forefront of never forgetting, also includes celebrating life. That's how we will cherish survivors when they are no longer here. That is why we had a prom.

Poland to Prom and everything in between and everything that will come--we need to make room for a dance floor.

Those who perished, I know too, were smiling down at us and happy that we were dancing and not crying.