I Thought of Her Again and Realized
How Fortunate We Really Are…

For every major holiday, I like to offer my own metaphysical interpretation of the holiday as it relates to prosperity consciousness and our higher spiritual natures.  Over the years I’ve created tributes to 27 major holidays. In every holiday there really is a “hidden” meaning and lessons to be learned that transcend all faiths, belief systems and cultures. Everyone, from any walk of life, can experience and apply the wisdom contained in each holiday, whether or not it is personally celebrated.

However, for this Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S., I’m going to roam off the usual path with a true story from my past…but we’ll still arrive at a very important aspect of prosperity consciousness…

Born a Jew, I removed myself from the practice, culture and tradition early in life in order to follow my chosen spiritual path instead of a religious one. I have no affiliation to religion, but have always believed that the common denominator in all religions should be the love for the Creator and love for all mankind (and that includes ourselves), and religion should serve as a path to a personal connection to the Source.

I recently went through a personal shock in my life and I have to admit this teacher of spiritual laws found her gratitude quotient rather diminished. At those times in my life when I’m reminded of how blatantly human I am, I’ve always felt the only answer was to lean into that loving Presence for support.  But Thanksgiving arrived and it only served to invite more mental and emotional guests to my “pity party.”  And then…suddenly… my thoughts drifted to a woman I met several years ago. Her story had a profound impact on me at that time and always “shocks” me into perspective whenever I think of her…

Maybe you’re also going through a difficult time, experiencing loss or limitation or otherwise challenged in some area of life. Perhaps this story will give you a little shock, too…you know, the kind that lifts us out of our pity party and renews our faith in our ability to overcome those challenges…

In 2003, in my former life as an event professional, I was contracted to book the first of many locations for my client, Campbell Soup, for their multi-million dollar “Souper Star” promotions for children. The first location that I found and secured for them was a beautiful white Malibu estate.

The owner of the mansion was a woman named Punty Bogart. Punty was 80 years old. She was petite, energetic and very feisty. Her home was pristine and beautifully elegant in European style. She wasn’t the easiest person to deal with, but she did take a liking to me and she could be very charming.

One day I had to visit her to have her sign some contracts. I noticed that she was limping, which I hadn’t seen her do before. I asked her if she had fallen. In her European accent, she replied, “No darling, it’s from the concentration camp.”

Punty sat me down and told me a story that left me stunned.

When Punty was just 20 years old, she and her family were sent to a concentration camp. Well, that wasn’t so unusual. I had met and read about survivors of the Holocaust. But what she told me next was probably one of the most unusual accounts I could ever imagine. Punty was taken to the gas chamber with hundreds of other women. I sat motionless and tears welled up as she relived her experience and described how the women were crying and screaming, “God, why have you done this to me?”

Punty was pulled from the gas chamber by guards because they needed someone to clean the toilets. It saved her life.

You may meet people who have survived the camps. But you never meet anyone who survived the gas chamber.

None of her family survived. She later met her husband and they came to America, went into business and created their wealth.

Her sporadic pain that caused the limp was a reminder of her past. She had many health ailments, which I understand is not uncommon to survivors of that period.

In my life, I have sometimes thought about what happened during the Holocaust. It’s incomprehensible to me how something of that magnitude could have happened. It would stir very deep feelings in me and I don’t believe it is because I was born a Jew. It’s because I was born human. And I cannot fathom how that kind of inhumanity could take root and grow — at the hands of a madman, no less.

I may never be able to fathom it. But I will always be grateful that I was born in this time and in this country. It may not be perfect, but it’s a great deal closer to heaven than so many other places…and if you are reading this story, then chances are pretty good you’re not too far from heaven either.

And that’s a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend.

I thank Punty for giving me such a great frame of gratitude reference. Gratitude is after all one of the greatest, if not the greatest of the prosperity laws.

I first posted this story about Punty online several years ago. Her granddaughter, Johanna Engel, saw the story and contacted me. Punty and her husband had moved to the East Coast and she had died in an auto accident shortly after. Johanna told me her dad was searching Punty’s name online, found my post about her and printed it out. She wrote, in part:

I’m not sure if you can still receive this message because I see you posted this a long time ago, but I want you to know that Punty was my grandma. I’m so glad to see that she left her legacy with everyone she encountered. I loved her very much and there are more to those holocaust stories that make her even more wonderful. I just really wanted to thank you for sharing, not even knowing we somehow could see it.

Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Isn’t that the truth.

Now, about our challenges…

— Marilyn