In 2008, I attended a symposium at Rochester College featuring Elie Wiesel as the guest speaker. A Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wiesel was a Romanian-born Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. I was eminently moved after reading his autobiographical novel, ‘Night‘ when I was in grade school, and I actually attribute part of my inspiration to become a writer to this book. When my mother and I heard he was speaking about the power of forgiveness in Rochester, Michigan, we were ecstatic…and our outlook on absolution changed forever.

I thought I would end 2013 with a quote by Elie, because I believe so strongly in his life…his will to survive, his power to overcome and his ability to forgive. May you all travel down a road just as proficient, just as long and just as purposeful.

Happy New Year, readers!

“There is divine beauty in learning. To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.” 

-Elie Wiesel (1928-)