Introduction

                My name is Shady Mostafa and my brother and I are both first generation Americans for my family. I moved here from New Jersey at the beginning of the seventh grade and was surprisingly very quickly welcomed into the student body. Currently, I am a senior at Westborough High and I am planning to continue my education at large universities such as Maryland or UNC. I am interested in a variation of majors such as marketing or sports medicine.  My parents are both of Egyptian decent and they both work full-time five days a week in order to ensure me a healthy and happy living. My mom works at Next Generation Child Care Center as a head teacher and my father works as the head of global marketing for Genzyme Corp.  I chose to take this course primarily from my friends’ opinions who took it last year. They spoke very highly of the instructor, Mr. Gallagher, and of the course content. It was evident of the dramatic changes that they have undergone through just one semester of the course and that just truly amazed me. Every day they would speak of the various videos presented and the impact it had on them. It shocked me that these same friends that continuously spoke about how much they hated school, would also continuously bring up this life-changing course. Just through word of mouth I knew that this course was worth taking and it truly did live up to every bit of its potential.

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me

            Facing History and Ourselves matured me in a way that I never believed was possible from solely a high school course. Through the movies, readings, and class discussions I learned about aspects of the Holocaust that I never even though of before even though it was taught to me numerous times in my educational career. This course made me think about the people involved rather than about the facts that dealt with this horrific event.

            One day, Mr. Gallagher told the class a story of a young man who faked his age in order to go to Vietnam because he believed in the reason why we were there. He continued to talk about how this one decision in this man’s life changed not just his life, but the life of his family as well. They were forced to move around, constantly following him as he was ordered to different military camps around the world. This young man turned out to be Mr. Gallagher’s father. From self-experience, moving is one of the hardest things a child must endure. It is hard for one to get comfortable to a new school, but it is probably practically impossible to adjust to a whole new country. Each country probably has their own morals, languages, and even teaching philosophies. Before we truly ever even dug deep into the course I knew I was in for a completely new experience, one that I have never even gotten near in this high school. The man that was standing in front of me battled through it all, yet he was still here and still extremely successful. Most importantly he was proud. This one moment in the class really got me thinking. This was the beginning of my transition to maturity as a senior. I used to complain about my little hardships, but at this point I realized they were nothing. Mr. Gallagher has seen it all and overcame every little bit of it. If for some reason I needed to drop out of the class the second after he told us this miraculous story, I would have walked away gaining much more than I have ever gained in any other class.
            A few weeks later Mr. Gallagher introduced us to a film titled The Grey Zone. Previous to this we were refreshed on the events that have led to the Holocaust to ensure we knew what was going on during the time period. For one of the first times Mr. Gallagher showed us a true movie that was entirely based on true events. From the beginning of this movie I knew I was in for an emotional rollercoaster. Never before that first scene of the film have I ever though about the people involved in the Holocaust since my family had nothing to do with it and I never knew anyone that was involved, but that first scene truly changed all of that. The actors were so vivid and the setting was so real. The constant droning of the crematorium, the dark, dirty camp, and even the villainous soldiers opened my eyes to how real this event truly was. In every history class before this one, only a month would be spent on every major event. The only focus were facts such dates, people, and events. Never was I ever allowed to actually see what the people had to go through, what the dates truly meant, and why the events ever occurred. If I ever considered myself courteous of other people’s feelings before, that was all thrown out the window. After this movie I barely could even speak during break time. I was so gripped by the dramatic events. The fact that they were real astonished me. I kept thinking over and over again that it couldn’t be real, but I knew it was. This one movie continued my maturity to adulthood that begun from the very first day of class.
            That wasn’t the last time I was on the verge of tears for the first time in school. Recently, we watched another movie titled The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Even though it was not based on true events, this movie was created to get people to think and the creators were extremely successful with that. This time, it made me think about more than the Holocaust. It got me thinking far off into my future, something I don’t and can’t even deal with right now. I’m going to be a father one day and that same day I may have to make a decision about my career: whether it is the right for my family or not to work less or maybe even work more. One day I may even have to choose my family or my career. This movie made clear what the right decision is. Nothing is more important than family and nothing should get in the way of family. This was a great movie to end the course off with.
 Facing History and Ourselves impacted me in a much deeper level than a I thought it would. Every movie, every class discussion, every story displayed in this class had a purpose and that purpose truly hit home with me. There were many movies and many stories that got me on the verge of tears. Every little detail about this class made me think about much more than just myself. Mr. Gallagher could have not presented this course in any better way than he already has. Everyday I would look forward to going to this class and everyday I would still be surprised with the new material and new information given to me. Mr. Gallagher would stress to us the importance of evidence in order to ensure future civilizations know the truth. He would say that anyone, including himself, give one any information in the world and pretend it’s the truth but there’s no point in believing that person without evidence. This changed my perspective on what everyone has said to me. This course matured me so that one day I will speak out and I will ask the questions that the kid next to me is afraid of. I would just like to say thank you Mr. Gallagher for changing me for the best.



Works Cited

Works Cited

Survivors of the Holocaust. Google Images. Image. 13 January 2011

Vietnam Vet Assassin. Google Images. Image. 13 January 2011.

The Grey Zone. Google Images. Image. 13 January 2011.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Google Images. Image. 13 January 2011.

WWII. Google Images. Image. 13 January 2011.