A short poem written by Giorgos Osipidis, 3rd Year LLB student, to compare our everyday struggles with the horrors of World War 2.

 

‘‘As I wake up in the morning, I go to brush my teeth

I am desperately annoyed because my toothpaste is almost out

I go to my kitchen and I open the fridge

I’m annoyed and angry because my milk is out of date

I turn around and ask myself ‘I don’t have anything to eat, besides this rusty banana and some leftovers my mother made’

I walk out of my house annoyed, ‘couldn’t enjoy my breakfast right!’

And what comes to my surprise is that my tire is deflated ‘wow’

I get angry and I scream ‘God tell me what I did? To deserve such a bad morning when I haven’t done anything!’

I call a taxi and its five minutes late, I sit angrily and yell ‘let’s go, I’m late!’

As I’m in the taxi, I think of my awful week, how I hate my job, and all the responsibilities I need to meet

‘Why does no one feel bad about me? Why does nobody understand? I have such a hard life, and nobody seems to care?!’

Also, my mom keeps calling me, to ask me if I’m alright, which is really annoying because I have no time!”

 

‘’I wake up in awful pain, with dirt all over my eyes

‘I hope those bad guys mom told me, wont chase us anymore…’

I turn around in confusion, I slowly realize

Where’s my mother, and my father, have they left me all alone outside?

I turn around and see an apple and a loaf of bread

‘It’s ok’ I say, ‘I’ll just remove the dirt’ and eat it while I can

I stand up and look around, dust, blocks and trash

‘Where’s my mother, and my father’ I repeatedly ask

I hear footsteps coming over, my heart starts to rush

‘Mom told me if I hear something, to run away very fast!’

I start running in confusion ‘what do they want from me?’

A big figure stops me, its tall and very dark

 

I raise my head towards it and try to smile while I want to cry inside

It doesn’t say anything, just grabs me by my hand

‘Do they want my little star? I can give them there’s no problem’ as I approach a big rusty truck

‘Where am I going?’ I try to calmly ask

However, I receive no answer just a hard push into the truck

‘it is noisy, and it smells really bad! ‘Am I going to my mother, was I lost all this time?’

Time feels endless, ‘Where is my mother?’ I think and start to cry

The truck stops, and I hear loud noises outside

‘Is my mother waiting for me outside?’

 

The truck doors open… I look around confused, the tall dark figure pushes me to move

 

My heart is racing, I feel it, it’s going to explode…

‘What is happening mother? What have I done?’

I’m left together with ten people in a horrific room

a gas starts escaping

as I realise

 

‘Mom, I am coming to you’

 

Late November of last year, the Law school of UCLan Cyprus in cooperation with AEQUITAS organised an essay competition which would provide five lucky winners with a 300 euro stipend for the field trip to Auschwitz- Birkenau.

Candidates had to prepare a 500 word essay on ‘why they think it is important for a young person to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau’.

Well done for winning a place Giorgos!