IMAGINE

Any human society, if it is to be well-ordered and productive, must lay down as a foundation this principle, namely, that every human being is a person, that is, human nature is endowed with intelligence and free will. Indeed, precisely because one is a person one has rights and obligations flowing directly and simultaneously from one's very nature. And as these rights and obligations are universal and inviolable, so they cannot in any way be surrendered. Peace on Earth #9

1IMAGINEBy Mike DodsonThe Story of Leon Skurko2Imagine your home being blasted into tiny fragmentsMemories strewn about a rocky landscape that had once been your town.

3Imagine your family uprooted and movedSome who would never be seen againParted for life.419396Just another day as a tailor in WarsawCleaning the store for normal business.7Suddenly the manager bursts inThe Germans are coming.8Its time to leave.9You run home to your brother and sister-in-law.Get dressed! Theyll be here any minute!10You run outsideThe streets are in chaosPeople are running for their lives.11You and your brother join the crowd In the panic, you head for the Russian border.12The journey stretches for miles

You are so weak that you almost collapse.13But you make it.14You and your brother spend one night in RussiaBut decide to return to Poland to get the rest of your family to safety.15When you return, you learn heartbreaking newsYour mother died while you were gone.16You take your eleven-year-old sister andseven-year-old brother to a local childrens homeBut the Germans arrive and destroy the building and carry away the children.

17You will never see them again.18Crushed by guilt and sadnessYou return to Russia.19You are asked to become a Soviet citizen.No! I am Polish,and I will only fight for Poland.20You find a room in a local house, and fall asleep.At 3:00 a.m., you hear a loud knocking on the door.

21You are gagged and handcuffedAnd thrown in prison.22In the morning, you and 15,000 othersare put on barges

and sent to Siberia.23For three years, you do nothingbut cut trees.

24Finally, you get tired of waitingYou walk alone to the main officeand join the Soviet Army.25You are on your way back to Polandbut now you are in uniform.26You liberate a concentration campfull of dying women.27After three years fighting, you are shotYou receive five operationsbefore being discharged.28Now, with the war ending, you return to the German-occupied city of WarsawIt is still not safe for any Jew.29You stay in a small apartmentThe view looks into another apartment across the street.

30One day, you see a woman nursing a child in the opposite apartment.A German officer bursts into the room31The officer grabs the childAnd throws it out of the window, onto the pavement.32In 1945, the war ends.33In 1951, you realize a dream,and arrive in America.

34Leon Skurko

35In 2005, I interviewed Mr. SkurkoI met true courage, bravery, and compassion.36In him was an exampleof how we all should live.37Each life is sacred.Mr. Skurko proves it.38Esther Skurko,the only to survive in her family.

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Leon Skurko and Family40The End

Leon Skurko passed away on May 12, 2008.41