Exerpt from "Night"

This is one of the most powerful excerpts I have ever read in my life. It is about Elie Weisel, the author, and his father and their imprisonment at Auschwitz. The mother and younger sister had died previously and the father, son, and two sisters were the only ones left. They were called out of bed and told to walk in a line to a man who would either point left or right. The father and son were both directed left and soon realized that they were going to the crematory. As they got closer and closer to the flames the father started to break down because his only son was about to be burned and he didn't know how he would be able to bear that. The son, however, had different plans. As soon as they got to the ditch, he was going to throw himself on the barbed electrical fence, a much quicker way to die. As the moment of truth presented itself, a guard pointed them to the left yet again and they were led off to another prison.... What courage these two individuals must have had in order to overcome something as tragic as this. I can't imagine how I would have ended up in life if I would have had to endure such a thing. The struggle being both the fathers and sons, makes it so much personal and makes you realize some of the things that we as people living in this great country take for granted on a day to day basis. . . Think about what you take for granted, and change it.