What is it like to have you whole world flipped upside down in the blink of an eye? What is it like to say good-bye to your family, not knowing if you will ever see them again? Those questions and many more were running through my head as I continued to read Night. Elie Wiesel, and every other Jew in the concentration camps had to spend their New Year's Eve fearing for their lives. He is left not believing in the god that he used to pray to everyday, "In those days I fully believed that the salvation of the world depended on every one of my deeds, on every one of my prayers. But now, I no longer pleaded for anything... My eyes had opened and i was alone terribly alone in a world without God," (68). To completely change a 15-year-old's view on not only religion, but the whole world in a matter of weeks is truly astonishing.  A time that is supposed to be a celebration for them, was something far different. Also, Elie ends up running for his life, literally. Every Jew in the concentration camps are forced to endure selection. They are examined by doctors and forced to run to see if they are still "fit" enough for the camps. I was enraged while reading this; it made me think to myself, Who are they to decide whether someone gets to live or die? How can a person's life be put into the hands of someone who despises them? When Elie learns that his father did not pass the first selection, all he can do is worry about his father's life. Being the same age as Elie, I can't even put myself in that position to think about what it would be like to lose my parents.
     On the other hand, it amazes me that the others in the concentration camps have stopped caring about the lives of others; the camps have become an every man for themselves type of situation. For example, while Elie is recovering at the doctors, the man in the bed next to him tries to convince him to leave, "But then perhaps my faceless neighbor, afraid of being among the first displaced, simply wanted to get rid of me, free my bed, to give himself a chance to survive," (78). I understand that everyone there is scared for their life just as much as the next person, however it became clear that they are now only fighting for themselves. I also couldn't help but notice that the veterans of the camps treat Elie and his father like they don't even care about them. I would think that they would be the ones are are the kindest, because they know what the newer people are going through. It surprised me how clear it was that they didn't even care to show just a little compassion. The concentration camps are so blatantly changing everyone's outlook on life, that no one could ever be the same.