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Dorothee

Dorothee
Germany

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| 01:31 PM Dec 27 2015

Dorothee

Germany

I thought this would be a fitting comment for the holiday-season: The fact-based Canadian movie “Silent Night” that actually is based on a true event that took place at the end of World War II…or rather on the eyewitness-accounts of those who survived the war! As there are two movies with this title I should probably add that I’m talking about the period drama of the year 2002.

| 01:31 PM Dec 27 2015

Dorothee

Germany

I thought this would be a fitting comment for the holiday-season: The fact-based Canadian movie “Silent Night” that actually is based on a true event that took place at the end of World War II…or rather on the eyewitness-accounts of those who survived the war! As there are two movies with this title I should probably add that I’m talking about the period drama of the year 2002.

| 04:08 AM Oct 08 2013

Dorothee

Germany

I just think it’s time for another upload under this photo. Besides I meanwhile watched another movie and read another book that would fit under this photo:
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>I was told that the German documentation “Superbau Kölner Dom” is available in English-speaking countries too. They say that they kept the title and also the audio is in German, but the difference is that English- speaking countries rent this movie with English subtitles.
Now people might wonder what should be so great about a documentary movie that deals with the construction of an old building that perhaps is miles from where you live. Fact is that the narrator describes all of this in such a fascinating and motivating way. It is so encouraging when he describes how Master Gerhard drew the first construction plans of the Cathedral of Cologne and how he kept working on this building, even though he knew that he would never get to see the finished building, even though he was always short of money and material and even though he knew very well how dangerous working on such a huge building was; in fact he died in an accident while working on this building.
Also the narrator describes Suspisse-Bosoré and Moller as the two most hoping, most enduring and most ambiguous men ever. They lived centuries after the constructor of this cathedral. Soon after his death people lost interest in this building. Religion – especially Catholicism, as the “Kölner Dom” was supposed to be a Catholic cathedral – became less important to the citizens of this city and money as well as raw material was needed for other important things, too. So they just left the unfinished building at that, let it rot and the houses around the unfinished cathedral were so cheap that only very poor people lived there, meaning that the cathedral almost became something like the center of a ghetto. Suspisse-Bosoré and Moller both found it a shame that Master Gerhard’s work never got finished, even though it actually was his last wish that one day this building would look just like he imagined it would be like. The two gentlemen searched everywhere to find the original drawings of the Cologne Cathedral, because they once got lost due to the desinterest of the people. When I say everywhere, I really mean everywhere, because one of them actually found out that a part of the original plan was used by a servant who lived in Cologne back then to clean her master’s house. In the end, when they found all parts of this drawing they realized that they needed financial support to finish this building. After a while they even were able to convince a wealthy gentleman who actually wasn’t even interested into the epoque when this plan was drawn. So they could build the cathedral just as Master Gerhard wanted it to be like and since the finished building looked so beautiful people even celebrated them as heroes.
So the moral of this story is that you’ve got to follow your dreams no matter the circumstances.
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>I waited for the following just until today, even though I finished reading this book days ago: “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban” is a book written by a Pakistani lady named Malala Yousafzai who is only 16 years old. Since she was eleven years old she posted blogs on the homepage of BBC in which she wrote about human rights violations going on in Pakistan, the crimes Taliban and AlQuaida commit there, that Taliban tries to keep Pakistani girls from receiving proper education by threatening families who send their girls to school and also by menacing these female students themselves etc. Exactly one year ago – on 8th of October 2012 – some Taliban fighters stopped the bus she was sitting in by threatening the driver with their guns, they entered and asked the passengers who of them was Malala. Some very young girls impulsively turned their heads towards this girl – which is neither a sign of stupidity, immaturity or even evilness, but just normal behavior for girls on that level of maturity. Then the Taliban shot her in the head – trying to kill her – and also wounded the two girls who sat next to her, which may have been on purpose considering that they of course were Malala’s friends.
I’m not only posting this, because her survival and complete recovery is a medical miracle, but because I admire her fighting spirit. She wrote this book after recovering from her injuries and she states that even though she never thought that they would kill her – considering that according to the right of Pakistan she isn’t even adult yet – she still wants to go on with her fight against this injustice in Pakistan. As I said before she has an amazing fighting spirit.

| 02:41 AM Jul 14 2011

Dorothee

Germany

>”World of Ben Lighthart: Living with blindness” was written by Jaap ter Haar and Martha Mearns. It’s about a boy named Ben who would remain blind after having an accident. Step by step he learns to live with his disability and in the end he even is able to enjoy his life.
However especially the first few chapters that take place in a hospital are encouraging: There he meets another young man who knows that because of his malady he is going to die soon. However instead of lamenting – as you would expect people to react in a situation like that – he accepts his fate and tries to make the best out of his last days on earth.
Also Ben meets a man who would depend on his wheelchair for the rest of his life, but still is able to maintain the sense of humor he had before this happened to him.
Of course the main character also meets other kids having similar disabilities like him when he goes to a school for visually handicapped students during the last chapter of the book. There they know that they’re not alone and that by getting educated they at least have a chance.
As I said before the plot of this book is very touching, especially since it’s so realistic…There are people who learn to enjoy their life in a wheel chair! Blind people also get along well with their lives if you give them a chance! And once I read a newspaper report about a girl of only 16 years who knew that she would die of cancer very soon, but still she didn’t give up on herself: She spend her days in hospital trying to comfort people and worked hard at learning for school, since she at least wanted some little successes before her death.
>”Oscar and the Lady in Pink” by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt and Adriana Hunter is a book about a boy whose parents avoid him, because the fact that he has cancer scares them. They don’t want to have anything to do with such a horrible sickness and thus they let the boy all alone with his health problem and the fact that he is going to die before even reaching the age of an adult. Then he meets “The Lady in Pink” who entertains very ill children like Oscar and she teaches the boy not to be afraid, since after all we all are going to die sooner or later. Since she knows that this boy has none else to confess his fears and troubles to, she also teaches him to stick to his faith and to have trust in God. For example she gives him the piece of advice of writing what she calls “letters to God”, i.e. small letters that contain his fears and wishes. In the end he can live with his fate and even has hope for something, namely at least a happy afterlife as his last note “Only God has the right to wake me up.” indicates.
>”The Last Dive: A Father and Son’s Fatal Descent into the Ocean’s Depths” also contains many – as far as I know true – stories about divers who have been through a lot of bd things, but in the end were able to make it.
P.S. At the moment I think about writing my own critique concerning the last book. You can drop by and check out my photo “Under this picture I’m gonna post stories, critiques and spoofs of mine that just don’t fit under any other photo of my profile!” at the end of next week. If I haven’t written my critique till then, I’m not gonna write one at all.

| 01:17 AM Oct 16 2010

Dorothee

Germany

I don’t know how known the book “3096 Days” by Natascha Kampusch is, but I’d suggest everyone to read it: It tells the true story of a girl who was able to go through about 8 years of torture, pain and hopelessness. When I read it I was like:”If this lady has been able to go through this hell, then you can be asured that whatever may come you’ll always find a solution and a way to go on with your life. If she has been able to endure these things, then you too will be able to manage even the worst experiences life’s holding for you.”
P.S. for all the German and French readers of this: In its original language (German) the book is called “3096 Tage” and in French it’s called “3096 jours”.

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