Thankyou Irena
In May 2008, a 98 year-old Polish lady named Irena Sendler died.
During WWII, she got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist but she had an ulterior motive. She KNEW of the Nazi's plans for the Jews. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and, in the back of her truck, she had a burlap sack for the larger children. She had a dog in the back of the truck that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the noise of the children. She managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 children before she was caught; the Nazis broke both her legs and her arms and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the children that she smuggled out which she kept in a glass jar buried under a tree in herback yard. After the War, she tried to locate any parents that had survived and reunited the families. Most, of course, had been gassed but she helped those children to be placed into foster family homes or adopted.
During WWII, she got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist but she had an ulterior motive. She KNEW of the Nazi's plans for the Jews. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and, in the back of her truck, she had a burlap sack for the larger children. She had a dog in the back of the truck that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the noise of the children. She managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 children before she was caught; the Nazis broke both her legs and her arms and beat her severely.
Irena kept a record of the names of all the children that she smuggled out which she kept in a glass jar buried under a tree in herback yard. After the War, she tried to locate any parents that had survived and reunited the families. Most, of course, had been gassed but she helped those children to be placed into foster family homes or adopted.
In 2007, Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize…
She LOST.
Al Gore won for doing a slide show on Global Warming!!!!
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I got this article couple of days back by email. My heart goes out in appreciation for Irena. I'm not sure how much the Nobel Prize would have even meant for a lady as selfless as Irena... but I strongly feel those who take a call about the Nobel Prize need to take a few moments off to think if they'd ever do something as selfless!!!
We may not necessarily get our due credit for the efforts we put in at work or the good we do as humans... does that mean we stop doing well or being good??? Does expecting appreciation and recognition take away the essence of what we're doing???
I'm not sure... I'm confused...
For the moment I'm all praise for Irena... hats off to you lady!!! May we have more of your type...
PS: this post's for my friend kavitha... thanks for pushing me to make sure I publish something asap :)...
We may not necessarily get our due credit for the efforts we put in at work or the good we do as humans... does that mean we stop doing well or being good??? Does expecting appreciation and recognition take away the essence of what we're doing???
I'm not sure... I'm confused...
For the moment I'm all praise for Irena... hats off to you lady!!! May we have more of your type...
PS: this post's for my friend kavitha... thanks for pushing me to make sure I publish something asap :)...
13 comments:
Nice post. There are many success stories like this especially in the Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin that happened during the soviet rule, where people risked their lives to help other people cross over to west Germany. Those guys never won any award probably were never elected for one too. What to do, it is a politically inclined and biased world!
@Ramya
Thanks for the comment. Nice to hear about what you've seen at the Checkpoint Charlie museum. I think the world owes them a lot more... atleast in terms of gratitude... if not in the form of awards and prizes!!!
Oh the politically inclined and biased world... is there a way out of it... i wonder!!!
Nice Post Pri!
For the political bias..yes thats true! More than often praise and recognition are kinda bartered in return for polical or personal favours.
Tnx priya for dedicating such an inspiring story! A lot of us combat this question everyday in this biased world. But Irenas do exist...only because their existence is not dependent on others' praise or criticism. You appreciated her efforts by putting it up as ur nxt blog...:)
Nice post Priya...I was not aware of this.
Irene did deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. That was probably amazingly selfless work she did and deserved the Prize more than anyone. There must be more such people.
On the other hand, I think Al Gore does deserve recognition. I think the cause he works for is grave enough. But probably he ought to have received appreciation in another form or another year! :)
Hey, Lovely Post. Am touched...
Keep blogging more frequently...
Raj
http://bharatmelange.blogspot.com
@Prasita
You're right... sad state!!! But what's motivating is that people like Irena keep surfacing and continue to do good... coz they're not even seeking recognition n praise...
@Kavitha
Thanks for coming along and leaving your comment too. You're right, biased world it is... but like I wrote to Prasi above, the Irenas of our world are too selfless to be even bothered by these biases.
We need to draw inspiration from people like her.
@Namrata
Hey Girl! You're right about the good work Al Gore is doing... but then you're also right about how he could have made it some other year :)
Read your latest blog... nice one!
@Rajeev
Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comment too.
I'm glad you liked the Irena write-up.
I try hard to blog as often as I can... but laziness and other factors come in too :(
You keep coming along... the encouragement and comments drives!!!
Will check your space soon!
Nice Post
मेरी कलम - मेरी अभिव्यक्ति
Priya, where are you? Nice post, write more often.
Irena. Beautiful name. And a beautiful person. Thanks for this post. It's still quite early in the morning (for me), I am still groggy, just out of bed. I somehow stumbled upon this blog. Then I find this story about Irena.
She was one of the truly courageous people. True courage cannot be proven in a single day. It takes years. I know very few truly courageous people.
-Furi
@Iyer Sir @ Anil
Thanks for the comment
@Furi
Nice that you stumbled upon my blog and liked this post on Irena. Good to see your comment. Thanks :)
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