{"id":1315518,"date":"2019-10-10T19:15:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T01:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=989095"},"modified":"2019-10-11T07:54:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T13:54:20","slug":"edith-eger-delivers-message-of-resilience-to-cmc-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/edith-eger-delivers-message-of-resilience-to-cmc-audience\/","title":{"rendered":"Edith Eger delivers message of resilience to CMC audience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Edith Eger, left, signs one of her books and poses for a photo with Angela Coulter following Eger’s talk at CMC-Spring Valley Wednesday night.<\/strong>
John Stroud\/Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Auschwitz survivor Edith Eger\u2019s message of overcoming tragedy and trauma, living life to its fullest and spreading as much love as possible along the way struck Colorado Mountain College student Jessica Beltran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was really important to me is that she talked about life and love, and how you want to appreciate the people in your life because she lost so many people she loved at a very young age,\u201d Beltran reflected after listening to Eger speak at CMC\u2019s Spring Valley campus Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, just because something terrible happened to her, that isn\u2019t the person she is \u2026 she can\u2019t forget it, but she can learn from it, and grow from it,\u201d Beltran, who joined some 500 people at Spring Valley\u2019s brand new Outdoor Leadership Center and Field House for Eger\u2019s talk.<\/p>\n

In addition to the large crowd on-site, another 350 people viewed the live simulcast online, either on their own or at one of the six Garfield County Library branches, according to CMC officials.<\/p>\n

Eger, 92, is the author of the acclaimed book, \u201cThe Choice: Embrace the Possible,\u201d who travels far and wide to tell her story of surviving Auschwitz from the time she was a young child until the end of WWII when she was a teenager.<\/p>\n

She went on to live and raise a family in the United States, and became a psychologist working to help people, including war veterans, through post-traumatic stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was extremely important for this community to hear what she had to say,\u201d attendee David Chimovitz offered. \u201cIn today\u2019s day and age, especially with the politics that we\u2019re facing, her message is immensely important for the youth of our community, as well as the people who have been around to see the transitions we are experiencing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dalana Debrincat, another CMC student on hand for the event, said it was a privilege to learn about Eger\u2019s and what she has been through. Her book was the selection this fall for CMC\u2019s Common Reader program.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big takeaway for me was when she said that \u2018guilt is for the past, and worry is for the future, so live in the now,’\u201d Debrincat said of one of the adages Eger\u2019s shared in a special gathering with students earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was very interesting, because a lot of people like to live in the past with what they did,\u201d Debrincat said. \u201cBut if you knew what you know now, you would do things differently, and that\u2019s what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laurie Taylor and Sarah Thornal brought several members of their Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints youth group to hear the presentation, including Allison Baltzer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really sad that she lost a lot of people during the Holocaust,\u201d Baltzer said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like the Jews deserved that \u2026 just because they\u2019re different doesn\u2019t mean they are outcasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed her message about love,\u201d Thornal added. \u201cI mean, it does come down to that and how it can heal so many.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, for Taylor, \u201cShe talked about how our differences can complement each other, rather than tearing us apart. We can grow closer from our differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

CMC President Carrie Hauser introduced Eger and related her message to CMC\u2019s embracing of diversity and acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough her tragic experience, subsequent resilience, and the choices she made along the way, Edith reminds us that love, inclusivity and acceptance are powerful antidotes to hate, to fear and to prejudice,\u201d Hauser said.<\/p>\n

During her hour-long talk, Eger weaved stories about her time at Auschwitz, followed by several years under communist rule when she relocated to Czechoslovakia after the war, eventually coming to the United States and raising a family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that there are problems in the world, there are challenges. I don\u2019t think there are crises in the world, there are transitions,\u201d she said. \u201cChange is very important because if you don\u2019t change, you don\u2019t grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eger also offered a message to young people to avoid the distraction that can make them unproductive in life and to go on to be good parents someday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscover the real you \u2026 that is a one-of-a-kind diagram,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful that I not only survived but that I was here to help guide people from victimization to empowerment, from darkness to light,\u201d Eger said.<\/p>\n

She also reflected on the words her mother uttered to her as their family was being loaded onto a cattle car headed for Auschwitz.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019I don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going, or what\u2019s going to happen,’\u201d she said. \u201c\u2018But just remember, no one can take away from you what you put in your own mind.’\u201d<\/p>\n

CMC also hosted Eger for a talk at Battle Mountain High School in Edwards on Thursday.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edith Eger, left, signs one of her books and poses for a photo with Angela Coulter following Eger’s talk at CMC-Spring Valley Wednesday night.John Stroud\/Post Independent Auschwitz survivor Edith Eger\u2019s message of overcoming tragedy and trauma, living life to its fullest and spreading as much love as possible along the way struck Colorado Mountain College […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1315518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 19:37:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1315532,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315518\/revisions\/1315532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}