Hager Wins Poetry Contest

Maddie Hager won Honorable Mention in the Lydia May Memorial Holocaust Writing Contest through the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center. This year’s topic was about how learning about the Holocaust can help us understand current day problems of prejudice, bullying, and hatred. She’ll be receiving her honors at a virtual ceremony honoring Yom HaShoah on April 11th. She has written a poem and here it is,
Change
When we think of the Holocaust
We think of the past
We think how bad it was
But that could never happen now.
Right?
We think of people being put down
Oppressed for who they were born as
Told they were inferior with just a glance
Deemed unworthy of being alive
Treated like animals
Put in camps
Where they had to fight every day to even survive
Yet everyday we see the bullying and bigotry
Prejudices and racism
Whether it’s in ghettos or the school hallway
It’s always there
When someones harassed simply for the skin they wear
When someone treats you unkind
Because they simply can’t get out of their prejudice state of mind
Even though they don’t even know your name
When they hate you for not being strong or tall or skinny enough
To fit society’s preferences for who you should be
Because if you’re not you’re unworthy in their eyes
While it may have been more clear in that past
It’s still here
That’s why everyday people march and pray
Protest and riot
Fighting every single day until they can finally say
The way we live has changed