Walking in Our Ancestors' Shoes

840,000 shoes in total leftover at Majdanek- The prisoners' soles and heels were stripped from the shoe for use in German war effort.

There was once an owner to each of these shoes.  They fit perfectly to the feet of their caretakers, and they were one of people's only possessions and concrete means of comfort during the Holocaust.  When the Nazi officers took away the shoes when they first came to the camps, the possessions were treated as nothingness and then were forgotten.  But those shoes are a link between the past generations of people who suffered in the Holocaust and their descendants who are alive to learn about this horrible genocide to this day.  These shoes are all unique and interwoven fabrics representing the multifaceted and preserved Jewish people; we are alive to experience the righteous transcendence of our own cultures from one generation to the next. These shoes all once belonged to owners who all had their individual stories.  And it is these touchable and symbolic shoes that can connect descendants to their ancestors when they come to Majdanek and feel the intricate and carefully-made work of the shoes today.  The shoes are a memorial.  These shoes are an indicator of a once purposeful existence to people who were later turned into dust.

These shoes inspire me to appreciate everything I have but most importantly to appreciate myself.  Some humans live life indulged with material goods, but ultimately it is we the person who should appreciate our own existence while also appreciating our closest relations who contribute to our interlaced life experience.  Our lives feed off the human existence of others yet are driven by our own choices and actions, which these shoes can inspire us to do. It's the movement humans can accomplish with the help of shoes that is invigorating.  We have to fill our ancestors' shoes, but we can and should walk to our own beat, style, and therefore we can perceive the world in a way best befitting our own desires.