Peter Loth

My circadian rhythm is so whacked up I just could not shake it off- I feel good for a few hours then I lose all my energy just trying to sustain a good feeling. When I tell people how I feel, they'd always come back with, "You're still jet lagged?" Well, I guess that's better than the usual "You're still crazy?"

Last night, friends of mine invited me to their house to meet Peter Loth. I was so happy that Chat agreed to come with me because the way I have been feeling lately, I wasn't sure I would make it there. But once we got there, I started to feel better. How could I not after hearing Peter's story. Peter was born in the Nazi concentration camp and did not get out of the children's prison until he was 16. To avoid being killed because he is a Jew, his mother handed him to a Polish woman when he was 3 months old. Whenever you go to a Holocaust museum, look up Peter Loth and you will see him when he was a baby.

In spite of the pain of torture and rape that he went through, Peter told his story bravely injecting humor in between holding back tears. When Chat was introduced to him, first thing he asked was, "Where are you from?" and crazy as Chat is, she said, "I am from Iran." Peter gave her a cockeye and we all laughed while he hugged his enemy.


,Peter's message is to promote awareness that the Holocaust did happen and so people won't forget, but most of all, he wants to tell people that forgiveness was not easy to come by. He held on to that hatred because that was the only thing he can hold on to - without hatred, he had nothing left. He did not want to forgive Hitler and the Germans, but when he found Jesus, he had to buckle down his knees and follow what Jesus said: "Forgive, or your father in Heaven will not forgive you." And when he finally did forgive, he was liberated and free, he said. And that's always been my message to everyone: stop nursing your hatred, let it go or that person who has hurt you will own you. Let go. Let God.