Inspired...by several people....

Hi Steve,

Well, regarding the ongoing saga of Neal Schon's soap opera love life, (not only is he a drama queen but he's also an attention whore), a comment was made on his Facebook page today by my dreaded arch nemesis, Allen Craft.  At that point, I clicked on his face, saw how ugly it was, and decided to unfriend Neal's page.  I don't need the reminder of Mr. Craft nor do I ever wish to encounter his sorry ass ever again.  He wrote, "I knew you when," with an unhappy emoticon face.  I truly loathe that human scumbag from hell.

But, one of the most valuable things---and constant source of inspiration---that I took away from working at the Museum is my thought of "what would a Holocaust Survivor do?"  And that thought got me through the grief of losing my hard drive and everything on it when he crashed my computer with malicious code.  I was just about to launch my web site "baby" at the time, (taught myself Dream Weaver to create it---took me TWO YEARS of hard work).....and I lost it all in one POOF because of him.

However, karma is a bitch.

Eventually, after some digging into his history with people in the know, and my telling lots of people on the internet web sites and fan sites all about it, I got him fired.  Seems he harassed a LOT of people, mostly Steve Perry fans.  Even "Mister Anger-Management" John Toomey (their road manager at the time) was NICE to me----after yelling at me for an hour about how I shouldn't have brought a camera in to do a review of the Journey concert---however, when I mentioned that I was the chick that Mr. Craft messed with, and that lots of other people were also harassed by him, suddenly he was my PAL.  He even gave me backstage passes.  And, although he told me I should write a review of the concert for HIM, I nodded and smiled, and went home to write a scathing and brutal review of his treatment of me instead, for a fan-based web site.

.....Miss Becky don't play.

If you care to see my rebuilt and improved web site, the link is: www.thechildrenoftheholocaust.com. (It started out as www.Tolerance4Kids.com).  It is now bigger and better than ever before, I am happy to say, and apparently lots of schools are integrating it into their curriculums!  That makes me very happy.  It was meant to be, and I knew it, and no matter WHO tries to stand in my way, I'll prevail.

So, my inspiration in all things always goes first to the memory of Anne Frank, whom I dedicated my web site to, and my friend of 15 years, Miep Gies.  She was the secretary of Mr. Frank, who helped them all hide for 2 years.  She also helped 5 other Jews hide in her own home at the same time, AND her husband Jan was working in the underground to get forged documents to as many Jews as he could.  Miep was like my grandmother, I met her in 1994 and instantly loved her like family, and still do.  She passed away 2 years ago at the ripe old age of 100.  She was my friend and pen-pal, writing me letters for 15 years.  I also wrote an article about her life story that was published in January 1999 in the World War II Magazine.

Because of these two people whom I love dearly, and always will, I decided that I shouldn't allow one worthless asshole like Allen Craft ruin my project.

Earlier tonight, I was glued to Turner Classic Movies (again), to watch Gandhi.  I loved that movie the first time I saw it, and since Ben Kingsley also played Anne Frank's father in the Diary of Anne Frank film that came out about 10 years ago, I consider him an awesome actor.  I've seen Gandhi several times, and each time I am so emotionally drawn in to it, so inspired by him and all that he did, I just want to pray to HIM to thank him for such an amazing accomplishment.  I wish more leaders would be like him in this world, I really do.

Another inspiring film that I absolutely ADORE, and have MEMORIZED, is "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," which I watched for the 500,000th time, (NEVER get tired of that movie), because Sidney Poitier is just awesome, in every film----one of my all-time favorites of his is also "A Raisin in the Sun."  I could talk your EAR off about old movies, because I love them so much....but I digress.

So, Gandhi inspires me.  Anne Frank inspires me.  Miep Gies, and every Holocaust Survivor that I know and love from the Museum inspire me all the time.

This video clip, of Charlie Chaplain in "The Great Dictator," (ANOTHER FAVORITE FILM OF MINE), is probably one of the most powerful and awesome speeches EVER recorded on film..... and though it was recorded during WWII, the things he says are STILL relevant today in our current world. I wish that wasn't true, but it is.  He was Jewish, and loathed Hitler, and wrote this speech in response to his genocide of the Jews in Europe.  If you haven't seen it yet, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9PTJGmkcpg

So, those are some of my inspirational people that I admire very much.  There will always be Allen Craft's around, sure, but those who are good, outnumber them.  When their petty anger and hate no longer affects people, the good of mankind will rise up again and again, as history has proven.  This thought keeps me going, when headlines and politics get me down.

Goodnight Stephen, I love ya.  Hope you had a nice weekend.

Love, Rebecca