One Night's Imagination

Growing up is an ongoing struggle of imagination. Who you want to be and who you are, are constantly confused. Many young girls play dress up as Cinderella, and quickly forget that they are not her. Many older girls try to be exactly Meaghan Fox, and soon slip away into a world that's not theirs. This wild imagination is the strongest at nightime, when all your feelings, wishes, and events let go. The night is a place of  magic, where anything can happen. As a little kid, I was always afraid of the dark, because the idea that anything was possible scarred me, and to this day I still have a little bit of that fear. Reading "Night," by Elie Wiesel  has really shown me how magical the night can be, for good or for worse. All the Jews either look forward to the night, because they get to rest, or they fear it becuase it contains no rest and only leads into day. The concentration camps in Auschwitz contained inhumane terror for days on end, where there was no time for the leisure of candyland dreams.

Elie Wiesel writes, " Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed to smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." This one night he experienced was no dream, instead it led him to unimaginable things that he was forced to never forget. For any other kid, one night only contains a certain dream that is easily forgotten, but Elie was put into an extremely unusual circumstance. He arrived in these camps, only to see the crematorium, or the large chimney with fire pits, to burn alive the Jews that surrounded him. Wielsel witnessed a truck unloading it's hold; small children. Babies, he saw young babies being thrown into the flames. I was so horrified at this description, on how someone could be so utterly cruel.

My nights, and dreams are very far from the world Elie Wiesel experienced. The complete darkness is a little bit frightning, but nowhere near what he had to endure. I want to take from this a new respect for the night, and realize how lucky I am to have such pleasant dreams. Nightime is full of wonder, hope, and new beginnings. I realize that now, and how I am able to have those peaceful hours just for that. I will no longer take advantage of that rest, and really understand what it means. I will use my hours to sleep, or for schoolwork, or whatever that night requires. Whatever I do will be from meaning, and not just for any reason.