Dear Anne Frank,

    28-Jan-2020
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anne frank_1  H

It’s been 75 years since Auschwitz has been liberated. 75 years and 2 or 3 months since you've been gone from this world, 78 years since you first started to write in kitty and the first time you went in hiding at Annex.

 

The first time I heard about you and your diaries I wasn’t exactly running to the library to issue it. Then on the insistence of my friend I read your diary… after turning the last page, even though I knew what had happened, I could not stop my tears. Oh Anne! This world needed you, because what “little” you gave… there are no words to describe it. The first quote that made me stop and reevaluate myself was – “If you think about all the suffering and are thankful for not being part of it, what are you supposed to do if you become part of the suffering? You’d be completely lost. On the contrary, beauty remains, even in misfortune. If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance. A person who’s happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!”

Anne, how did you find it in yourself to have such a positive outlook in such misery? How could you think about beauty and courage? There are so many instances when I completely forgot that you were just 13-14 years old, only a child. Your goodness, your maturity, your insightfulness; many live a whole life and still cannot develop a perspective like yours. I’m sure there were at least thousands more like you who lost their life but unlike you, they did not even get the chance to be heard. Nonetheless, I’m grateful for you your diaries and whatever brought me to it. You changed my life Anne Frank, thank you!

Dear readers, on this Holocaust Remembrance Day I would like to share few quotes of Anne Frank which gave me a new perspective in life. I hope those will be life-changing for you as well…

  1. I have my own ideas, plans and ideals but am unable to articulate them yet.

  2. I promise that despite everything, I’ll keep going, I’ll find my own way and choke back my tears. I only wish I could see some results, or just once, receive encouragement from someone who loves me.

  3. As for us, we’re quite fortunate, luckier than millions of people. It’s quiet and safe here, and we’re using our money to buy food. We’re so selfish that we talk about “after the war” and look forward to new clothes and shoes, when actually we should be saving every penny to help others when the war is over, to salvage whatever we can. 


    anne frank_1  H

  4. Let me out, where there’s fresh air and laughter!

  5. The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be alone, alone with the sky, nature and God. For then and only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity.

  6. This morning when I was sitting in front of the window and taking a long, deep look outside at God and nature, I was happy, just plain happy. As long as people find that kind of happiness within themselves, the joy of nature, they’ll always be able to recapture that happiness.

  7. Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed: it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.

  8. An empty day, though clear and bright, is just as dark as any night.

  9. We must behave like soldiers. If our time has come, well then, it’ll be for freedom, truth and justice!

  10. All I see around me are dissatisfied and grumpy faces, all I hear are sighs and stifled complaints. You'd think our lives had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Honestly, things are only as bad as you make them. Here in the Annex, no one even bothers to set a good example. We each have to figure out how to get the better of our own moods!

  11. Work, love, courage and hope, make me good and help me cope!

  12. Why are millions spent on the war each day, while not a penny is available for medical science, artist or the poor? Why do people have to starve when mountains of food are rotting away in other parts of the world? Oh, why are people so crazy?

  13. Until all of humanity, without exception, undergoes a metamorphosis, wars will continue to be waged, and everything that has been carefully built up, cultivated and grown will be cut down and destroyed, only to start all over again!

  14. To be honest, I can’t imagine how anyone could say “I’m weak” and then stay that way. If you know that about yourself, why not fight it, why not develop your character?

  15. It’s hard enough standing on your own two feet, but when you also have to remain true to your character and soul, it’s harder still.

  16. How noble and good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own behaviour and weigh up the rights and wrongs. They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day and, after a while, would certainly accomplish a great deal.

  17. A quiet conscience gives you strength!

  18. Parents can only advise their children or point them in the right direction. Ultimately, people shape their own characters.

  19. Oh, it’s hard to be strong and brave every day!

  20. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness. I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals, perhaps the day will come when I’ll be able to realize them.

What are your favourite Anne Frank quotes? Have you read this incredible book titled “The Diary of a Young girl”? What books affected you so much that it changed your life? Let us know in the comments section below!

May the force be with you! 🖖🏼


- Shruti B