TDN Weekend December 2016 Issue 9
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1087484
The environment had a massive effect on me and gave me so much compassion for people in difficult circumstances. The people in the camp ranged from the uneducated to doctors and law- yers – the previously wealthy to the previously poor – but in the camp we were equal because we had all left everything behind. We left behind everything we owned and every- one we knew, but it was the people I missed that made me cry every day while in that camp. We could not tell anyone – not even relatives or close friends – that we were planning to flee Czechoslovakia, for their protection as much as for ours. Knowing I would never again see my grandparents, teachers, or friends was heart- breaking. Life is not about things or belongings, but about relationships and memories. It was interesting to watch how different peo- ple deal with and react to stress. You truly can't predict how p e o ple will react until they have a cer tain amount of pressure put on them. About 10 percent of the people would be very helpful, a l m o s t s a i n t l y, a n d a b o u t 1 0 p e r c e n t w o u l d t u r n m e a n , a l most as if hur ting others somehow made them feel better about them- selves and their current situation. The other 80 percent would follow whoever was louder – they were simply looking for leadership. When there was a n e g ative voice that was loudest, even the good people would follow it. Pavla Nygaard