Last week we had the honor of speaking at Weequahic High School in Newark NJ.  This school is special to me personally. You see my mom graduated from there. The day started off so cool. I have never seen a high school that had such an active alumni association, and an office right on premise! They actually had old high school year books and we were able to find my mom's year and pictures of her! It was so crazy!

But then I have to say, the day just got better.  About 50 students attended our talk. They were respectful, engaged and really asked some great questions.  They asked if my dad still harbored feelings of hate. (his response is here in this video). They asked him if he suffered from PTSD, what would he do if the bad guys were standing right in front of him right now, and did he loose hope.  He answered all the questions as honestly as he could. He does not think hate is productive, kindness is better. He is lucky, he never had PTSD, and he never lost hope - he credited his mom for that. And if the person was right in front of him today, he would just talk to him, in a calm fashion, because anything else is just not worth it.

I spoke to their teacher after our talk.  Many of these students lives are difficult. She was so happy that they had the opportunity to witness, first hand, a person that had been persecuted, discriminated against and who lived through the Holocaust and who had survived. And to see that person go on to live a full and happy life gives them hope. 

The video above is some words of wisdom my dad told these kids at the end of our time together.  It always amazes me how much he enjoys life and how he always has a smile on his face. I think we can all learn a little something from him.