A Deep Breath

Take a deep breath.

The prisoners were divided into three groups. The fit became slaves. The excessively unfortunate were kept for "medical experimentation." Most were sent to the gas chambers.

They had come packed like cattle in trains. No place to use the restroom. No place to be sick. No place to move the corpses of the people who had fallen over dead on the way. After days of wallowing in their own filth, they entered the camp.

Children were ripped from their mothers' arms. Families were separated. Best friends were separated. Husbands and wives were separated.

They were told they were going to be de-loused. They were going to get a shower.

They piled into the large concrete boxes. The doors slammed shut behind them. Zyklon B pesticide rushed through the vents.

They cried. They screamed. They clamored. The weakest died first. They became the first steps in the staircase of people.

The slaves were sent in to detangle the bodies. They always found them in a neat pyramid.

If you visit Auschwitz today, you can see fingerprints, engraved forever on the solid concrete ceiling.

They literally tried to claw their way out for that one last gasp of air. They climbed on top of each other to stay above the gas, to get that one last gasp of air.

I have bad days. I have really lousy days. I have days when I don't know how I'm going to deal with what's coming. But you know what else I have?

Air.

Take a deep breath.

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!" -Psalm 150:6