“At the time of the liberation of the camps,
I remember, we were convinced that after Auschwitz there would be no more wars,
no more racism, no more hatred, no more anti-Semitism.
We were wrong.
This produced a feeling close to despair.
For if Auschwitz could not cure mankind of racism, was there any chance of success ever?
The fact is, the world has learned nothing.
Otherwise, how is one to comprehend the atrocities committed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia…”
Elie Wiesel, Open Heart
Piotr Cywinski poses in front of barracks in Auschwitz, the former Nazi death camp –
WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Last evening, I randomly stumbled upon a story about the current director of
Auschwitz Memorial in Poland, Piotr Cywinski.
The story was offered by the Telegraph’s journalist Will Brown.
And boy, what a tidal wave that tiny obscure article has had on my heart.
There I was Tuesday evening glancing at my computer waiting on “THE” debate of the century…
I was being bombarded with all the hype regarding the debate and all the utter idiocy raging
across this land of ours when a certain storyline caught my eye.
“Auschwitz director offers to serve time in place of 13-year-old Nigerian
sentenced to 10 years for blasphemy”
It seems that there is a 13-year-old boy in Nigeria, Omar Farouq, who has been sentenced to
10 years in prison for violating Sharia law for speaking blasphemy.
Let that sink in…
a 13-year-old child is sentenced to a state prison for speaking blasphemy according
to Sharia law.
According to Wikipedia, Sharia law is (/ʃəˈriːə/, Arabic: شريعة [ʃaˈriːʕah]),
is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition.
It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith.
In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God’s immutable divine law and is contrasted with
fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations.
The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between
Muslim fundamentalists and modernists.
So naturally, the United Nations has expressed its outrage over this case…
but we’ve seen how their outrage has effected other egregious global actions before.
According to the Telegraph’s article,
“Kola Alapinni, Omar’s lawyer, told The Telegraph that the adolescent has been held
in a prison for adults and not been allowed to see any legal representation.
If Omar had been older, Mr. Alapinni says, he would have been sentenced to death.”
According to Reuters, “If a pardon was not possible,
Cywinski said he and 119 other volunteers would take on the boy’s punishment
and each spend a month in a Nigerian jail.
As the director of a memorial to a place “where children were imprisoned and murdered,
I cannot remain indifferent to this disgraceful sentence for humanity,”
he said in the letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, posted on the Memorial’s Twitter account.”
Two spokesmen for Nigeria’s president declined to comment on the unusual intervention on Saturday.
And so Mr. Cywinski, who has children the same age as Omar, has volunteered to take the boy’s place.
“There are some times we have to stop our own silence and try to do something.
It’s not enough to just like something on Facebook or retweet it.”
Mr. Cywinski has appealed to the Nigerian president, President Buhari,
knowing that he had visited the Auschwitz Memorial in 2018 and believes that that
visit has had to have had an impact on the President.
Mr. Cywinski has yet to hear a response from the Nigerian President.
And so as I currently listen to two men jabbering back and forth, mostly hatefully
to one another, all about the ills of our Nation…my thoughts are actually
being pulled to a small story about a Polish man wanting to take the place of
a young Nigerian boy that he’s never met, who is about to be sentenced to prison for
10 years for speaking contrary against Muslim law…
In the big scope of humanity…I think it is this small story that speaks
so much louder than two grown men calling one another names.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/auschwitz-director-offers-serve-time-185809700.html
Greater love has no one than this,
that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
cookiecrumbstoliveby 
We do live is a fallen world that has no idea how to right itself. God have mercy on us.
love will win!
Amen! J.
Christopher Cross’s song Sailing comes to mind 😉
Inspirational post, Julie. And a wonderful reminder of where our hearts and minds should really be. Hugs to you for pulling us away from the dribble surrounding us. 💕
It was a great kick in my pants last night during a circus on TV
Julie, I needed this today. I know I’m not the only one in complete despair over the behavior displayed last evening. This post has me in tears. We as believers know what is waiting. We’re to live in that hope. It sets us apart. Yet, as humans, we are riding the waves of all human hurricanes. That’s what it is to me. The perfect storm. Not to sound egotistical, but I would want to do the same as this man. He’s willing to step up and do what we’d hope ANY genuine and empathetic human would do~sacrifice for one another (especially a child). Thank you for sharing this. Be blessed by those that stand with you and by our Heavenly Father who is covering this entire mess. 💚
I hear you! And what such an apt description, we are riding the waves of human hurricanes…and barely keeping our heads afloat.
That there are people like this man who is willing to sacrifice his comfort and freedom for some kid he’s never met and is so very different from himself and all I am is caught in the tidal surge of the hurricane…
Got to find my head above water in order to see what really is important and I wish to God, make that pray to God, that our fellow men and women can do the same!!!
Amen Julie! I’m holding my head up with you! And most importantly, I’m sending prayers of peace. God is in control indeed. Now I wait in faith with you and so many others. 💚
waiting is hard is it not 😉
Odd, in none of the reporting, it never says what was said. Could it be “Jesus loves you.” And why do this through official courts while the Muslim raiders kill entire villages of Christians?
Yeah, I’m not certain if the man is Catholic, Jewish or Orthodox…I looked but never saw.
I thought if he were Jewish and was willing to do that for a Muslim child…that just added more volumes to the “sacrifice”
Amen
Oh my goodness, what a tear jerker! That is so sweet to see someone actually put their faith where our mouth usually is. I pray the hearts of somebody in power is touched and that mercy for this child prevails.
I mean really—I’m so caught up in our own little country’s drama trauma, I can’t see past my nose—I’ve got some work to do!
This is a very humbling and sad story Julie. I hope and pray things end up well.