Author's Note-
This is my final essay for the book Sarah's by Tatiana Rose. On my first essay I wrote a quote I found on the front in my Author's Note. And now to close my book I will write it again.-
Author's note- The review on the front of the book says;
"A shocking profoundly moving, and morally challenging story.... nothing short of miraculous. It will haunt you, it will complete you."
And it is all too true.
They say that the most important lessons in life are the ones you teach yourself. We as a country make mistakes, it is a way of life. You can look back on them with a shake of your head or you can learn to make it right. Each and every person must learn where they went wrong, which turn they made that they weren't supposed to. Because sometimes these turns aren't labeled "the path of evil and terror" and "the path of happiness and riches", but they are as unnamed as the solid dirt path underneath your feet. But this path has a name, it forever was and always will be, the path of life.
Now we don’t drive along in little neon cars winning the lottery and finding buried treasure, having twins and sending them away to summer camp. In Germany during WW2, there wasn't a certain path you could take, or maybe you could but it wouldn’t lead you anywhere. Someone was always there not as much guiding you, as forcing you in the directions they chose. You were pulled and twisted, tugged and pried, fighting for your life. The author in this book tells you that sometimes you might feel like you have nowhere to go, that you are a slave in the hands of another, but you are never without a hope and a purpose. So act, act on what is right, go with your better judgment. If you're better judgment tells you that it would be better to slowly be tortured to death than be free, honestly, I don’t know about you.
The other night I asked my mom why can't the like thousands of Jews have an uprising or anything? Why do they just sit there and do nothing? Do they actually think that doing nothing will save their lives? She used this long hefty answer just to say a single word. They were afraid. Though have you ever seen a child actually truly afraid? Not about something like a bee in their room but a true fear for their life? Never. I've never seen a child scared like that. But these people weren't children. Of course they were by definition but these kids weren't children. Their short-lived innocence was stripped from them like an id. They were expected to be adults. They couldn't cry or sob, they couldn't miss or fear. The main character in this story is one of these children. Hard as a rock. No happiness, no love. She was dead inside, and she was almost on the outside too. Her playing board was cut in half, and the only thing she was racing towards was death. Though she would trade anything to be there.
We made a mistake and we cannot go back and change it. It has changed the way the world works. For better or worse we will never know but back then it must have seemed like the second. Another path was set out for us. There is now the path of repentance as well as the path to more violence and pain. Which will you take? Someday you may have to make that choice, and despite how it sounds, this might be a very hard decision to make. Follow your heart but never forget the past and where each path you chose to take will lead you.
