Poisoned | Teen Ink

Poisoned

April 16, 2010
By Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury


Liberation they said as they walked through the aftermath, the evidence of our dual existence, our obvious conflict. It was difficult to witness their tender faces painted noble and uniforms of immortal heroism. They gathered some and set others aside and called us liberated.

And how am I liberated? While darkness still haunts my mind’s eye. The air I breathe, the world as I see, and everything in it is tainted with humanity’s ignorance to our plight, our suffering. They took us up in the masses, outwardly gregarious yet still coarse. We tromped through our dead, fallen kin and neighbor. And as we moved, I tried to rectify the last decade of my existence.

I closed my eyes against the outside watched the nightmares unfold. I remembered all I had seen. The distorted images of children face down in streets, of bodies broken and battered, of the smell and taste of flesh in the wind. The SS screamed in my head that I was a demon, my blood was a blemish in the sight of my own country. My friends and family were pushed together in cramped complexes, begging for water, food, and mercy. I signed a card on a train for my family of forced reassurance.

Would it be difficult to breathe in society? I could be like so many others, dogmatic in disbelief, denying such scrupulous evidence for false satisfaction. I might stand in the crowds and portray the illusion of gross disgust and deep sympathies. I could pretend to forget. But in doing so, would I not be what the nations had acclaimed for years?

Would I not be a poison?

Would I not be a poison to my fallen, a poison to the truth and the very history of man? Would I not be the virus of plaguing ignorance? The very thing I despised in this world. I would only become the representation of the uniforms’ words.

I looked into the sky and saw the ash that shaded the sunlight. The warmth that once seemed so tenuous, now my spirit longed for dried and withered. And still they carried me as a shell of my prior identity and still they screamed that I was liberated. Tenacious soldiers pushed us to our freedom.

My freedom.

As I watched the last of us alive being filed in a most civil fashion, I was reminded that though I was alive, I had already died in this place. The rationalism I had once understood, my observations, the general familiarity I’d loved, now corrupted by the abundance of failing will-power. My training and discipline were now a decaying memory. Insignificant.

I was no longer who I had once been.

I was no longer who I once knew.

I was an empty vessel.

And for the first time in my years of imprisonment and slavery, in my time of fighting to survive, and justify; I felt weak and vulnerable. I felt as though I couldn’t survive, that I would fall and never open my eyes again.

I felt like a poison.


The author's comments:
This is a piece from the point of view of a German Jew after the end of the Holocaust

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This article has 114 comments.


on Jul. 9 2010 at 5:13 pm
Bulletproofkid BRONZE, Vero Beach, Florida
2 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. - Albert Einstien

AGH!!! I couldn't understand any of the big words. Nice though.

on Jun. 4 2010 at 2:36 pm
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Thanks so much. Im glad i could touch you with my work. i love history and believe it should be realized and respected. im not jewish, but that doesnt mean i wont acknowledge their suffering. good people died that day. God bless them all. And watch over them peacefully. Thanks so much for the kind word.

on May. 26 2010 at 11:40 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

hahaha. thank you sunnyhunny! :)

on May. 26 2010 at 11:40 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Thank you so much =)

on May. 26 2010 at 11:39 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Thank you so much for the kind feedback

on May. 26 2010 at 9:31 am
19juliannabet93 BRONZE, St. Johns, Florida
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us."- Marianne Williamson

Beautiful.  I loved it

WiseGirl said...
on May. 24 2010 at 10:38 am
WiseGirl, Adams, Tennessee
0 articles 0 photos 64 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I think, therefore I am."
-Rene Decartes

Excellent. I really like it!

on May. 23 2010 at 6:56 pm
sunnyhunny PLATINUM, Litchfield, New Hampshire
22 articles 3 photos 329 comments

Favorite Quote:
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
-Ghandi

okay, I am going to coment on this again.  The first time I read this, I had never read any of your articles before.  I read this again, not recognizing it at first.  I got an increasing sense of deja vu as I read it (hmm wonder why :) )  but nonetheless, this piece still managed to impress me for a second time.  You're a really great writer!

on May. 21 2010 at 10:36 pm
RawyaAviva SILVER, Tuolumne, California
9 articles 0 photos 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I wake up every morning determined to change the world and have one heck of a good time . Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult."-E. B. White

My great grand parents left Germany a month before Hitler gained power. Being Jewish i would not have been born if they had not left. Holocaust survivers are my heros. Thank you for recognzing the pain they went through in this pogiant piece. If you are looking for a good book read milkweed. It has to do with the holocaust and a very young boy who survives it . It is amazing!

on May. 21 2010 at 1:00 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Well, thank you. I'm at the top for now? I wonder what happened?? oh well. yay!

on May. 20 2010 at 10:38 pm
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Ah! Thank you Amber06 =) God has blessed me. Thank you very much.

Amber06 said...
on May. 20 2010 at 8:21 am
Girl, you do a wonderful job. You write far beyond your years, keep it up and use this gift God has gave you for his Glory! God Bless

SarahB535 said...
on May. 20 2010 at 7:49 am
SarahB535, Mocksville, North Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 8 comments
Well, you're a talented writer. You'll get back to the top! The good one's prevail!

on May. 20 2010 at 7:46 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

haha. Its cool. :) Thanks though ahahah

on May. 20 2010 at 7:44 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Thank you Sarah. But Im not worried too much about it. lol. I'll get my chance again =)

Abbey F said...
on May. 20 2010 at 7:37 am
did I? I'm sorry lol ;)

SarahB535 said...
on May. 20 2010 at 7:37 am
SarahB535, Mocksville, North Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 8 comments
Anytime, you did a great job... I'm kind of annoyed with the number one resulting historical fiction. He's cheating.. You're work is worthy of that spot.

on May. 20 2010 at 7:34 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

pretty sure you've already left me a message/comment before though hahaha

on May. 20 2010 at 7:33 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Beastiesssss? Really lol??

on May. 20 2010 at 7:33 am
Kandabear SILVER, East Bend, North Carolina
7 articles 0 photos 93 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I went insane from long intervals of sanity." - Edgar Allan Poe
"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say." - Unknown
"You must say drunk on writing so that reality can not destory you." - Ray Bradbury

Thanks for the comment =)