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I have missed you since my last President's message.
Please make time to attend TEW's upcoming signature program - "Women on the Move" luncheon where we honor ten outstanding women leaders. The luncheon is to be held at noon on Thursday, October 14, at the InterContinental Hotel. If you have interest in attending, please visit our website
www.tewhouston.org or contact our VP of Special Events, Margo Snider at
mdsnider_houston1@comcast.net.
I wanted to share with you a book that touched me so deeply - "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay. The book, a true masterpiece, is recommended by Judge Castillo. It describes 10 year-old Sarah's experience of being arrested in the Vel'd'Hiv' roundup in Paris in July 1942, when Nazis occupied France. Most people in the Vel'd'Hiv' roundup ended in a gas chamber. In May 2002, on Vel'd'Hiv's sixtieth anniversary, Julia, an American journalist living in Paris for 25 years and married to a Frenchman, found out the family secret that connects her to Sarah while she was writing about this black day in France's past.
The book takes you through vivid horrifying images and experiences that Sarah and her family had. You feel hopeless of Sarah's fate; she thought she would be back to the family's apartment within a few hours to save her brother whom she locked in a cupboard for his safety. It is so hard for the readers to watch the old wounds that become exposed and the experience of the roundup that has haunted all people ever associated with it. There were no winners in this holocaust; the deaths, the survivors, or the beneficiaries.
The true miracle comes in the latter part of the book. Because of this experience, the journalist reevalutes her marriage and her life. Finally, she found peace and helped others and us, the readers, finding peace from this horrible experience.
So we learned that the peace of mind and forgiveness takes TIME and understanding of the suffering, but it achievable.
After reading this book, I feel that I am truly blessed with a wonderful family and many friends. There are ups and downs in my life, but nothing ever close to this horrible holocaust. I hope you will find time to read this book and feel as blessed afterwards as I did.
Best wishes and God Bless!