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The year before his death in 202, one hundred year old Eddie Jaku wrote his memoir. It is a quick read and outlines his life along with his formula for happiness. Eddie was a Jewish man who survived the concentration camps during WWII. After the allies took him to a hospital, near death, he was experiencing some anger and bitterness about all he experienced at the hands of the Nazis. As his life progressed he was able to let go of hate and embrace love as a lifestyle. He attributes his survival of the death camps to some important factors. One is the relationships he had with friends and family. Even though his parents were killed in the gas chambers, his sister remained alive as did one of his best friends. Relationships with them and other friendships he developed were an important ingredient of being able to continue living in the death camps. Another thing he mentions that was important to his survival was hope. Without hope people ran to the electric fence and grabbed on thereby electrocuting themselves. Hope kept Eddie going. A third thing that was important was helping others. Eddie believes a life that includes service to others is necessary to survive in a community. Those that survived the concentration camps did so by helping each other through it. One hundred year old Eddie Jaku believed the secret to happiness is love, hope and cooperation. Eddie volunteered at the Sydney Holocaust Museum and did a lot of speaking at schools and churches. He was even invited to do a TED talk. Eventually he wrote his book. Please click on the author's name and book title above to learn more about Eddie. And enjoy the video of his TED talk that follows. We could all use a good dose of Eddie Jaku.
