If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.

When I was in 8th grade, my english teacher, Mrs. Atwell, did a whole unit on the holocaust. We read The Diary of Anne Frank and went in depth about what really happened. When Anne Frank is mentioned, a lot of people just say "Oh yeah, that's that one jewish girl that hid from the Nazis behind a bookshelf and they found her diary", but there's so much more to her and her story than that. It wasn't just Anne hiding, it was also her mother, her father, her sister, a whole other family (the VanDaans), and a dentist (Mr. Dussel). And they weren't just hiding behind a bookshelf, they were in a secret annex. In the annex, they had to stay extremely quiet and were only allowed to use the bathroom at certain times. Since they were in intense hiding from the Nazis and weren't allowed to leave, they relied on Miep Gies and Mr. Kraler to supply them with what they needed. When the Nazis found them, they were all deported to concentration camps. Mr. Frank was the only one that survived and he was the one who, upon returning to the annex after being rescued, found Anne's diary and decided to publish it so everyone could hear their amazing story of how they hid for so long.  

I know this kind of a random thing to blog about, but I watched "Freedom Writers" at home the other day and the holocaust is one of the main things in that movie that help the students to realize that they're all important. It reminded me of how much I loved learning about the holocaust, Anne, and her story. The holocaust is hands-down my favorite thing historical event to learn about.

But the point I'm trying to get to by writing this blog is about something Mrs. Atwell gave me. At the end of my 8th grade year, she made us color butterflies. After she took them up, she took the time to write something personal on every one of our butterflies about how she'll remember us. She told us she did this because she wanted to make all of us feel special and unique, just like butterflies. She said it's important for everyone to realize they're special so a genocide like the holocaust wont happen again. I still have my butterfly taped up on my mirror, and I see it everyday.