Change Your Life

Imperial War Museum

Tuesday, April 5, I had the opportunity to take a little visit to the Imperial War Museum of London. And can I just say... it was incredible! Normally when you hear these kinds of stories, you hear all about the cool airplanes, submarines, and war tanks that people saw there, or about the cool exhibit on the best kept government secrets... This however, is a different story. For although all of those things were amazing and spectacular, the thing that stood out most to me, was found in the Holocaust Exhibit. Though it was tucked away in the small reaches of the basement corner, I feel like it was perhaps the most historically important room this museum had to offer. I absolutely loved it! It went through the entire story of the Nazi Party and the rise of Adolf Hitler, all the way to the Jewish persecution, concentration camps, and then the ending of the war. It was phenomenal. I have to admit, I usually have a hard time with this period of history. It makes me sick to my stomach to see those pictures, and hear those stories. But there was something about experiencing it first hand, that changed me. Looking at the real artifacts from this period of history really hit me. The wall of shoes... knowing that those shoes were actually worn by innocent Jews in a concentration camp, really touched me. I honestly think this is one of the most important lessons to be learned from history. The lesson that we must learn to get along, We can not afford to let anything like this happen again. And we have no excuse for it to either. Although we can't undo the past, we can still prevent the future. Acceptance and toleration is key! As I was walking out of the museum, I found this large piece from the Berlin Wall, with the words "change your life" painted on it. That is the ultimate lesson we should learn from history! If we don't learn from the past, and change the way we are living our lives, we are bound to repeat those mistakes of the past. So do it... change you life! Make this world a better place!