“I went to Auschwitz a few years back. At one point, I looked down and saw a bunch of chipped rocks all over the place and one nice, little round rock, which I thought was really interesting. I picked it up and brought it home with me, because being there was a very moving experience and it made me think of my grandfather who was in a camp in the Holocaust. He beat the odds and made it out, which reminded me of the rock, in that it was very different from the others and managed to make its way back to Canada with me.
I always keep it in my knapsack. When I had my medical school interview, I kept it in my jacket pocket. It’s grounding. It makes me realize, when I’m stressed out, that whatever I’m going through is nothing in comparison to the magnitude of the Holocaust and what my grandfather went through.”
Category: People