Think of all the the beauty still left around you and be happy.
~ Anne Frank.
Wouldn't it be a better world if we would all take a few minutes each day and write a few simple notes, keep a blog,
just jot down our thoughts, our activities.
What if we were to stop texting and ditch the Facebook habit that means nothing to anyone. A fleeting glimpse.
So immediately forgotten or, even worse, misinterpreted.
Take five minutes. Scribble a diary.
If you can't do that, take notes on napkins.
These are often the best ideas ever recorded and many a famous screenplay was written on a paper napkin.
Over a decade ago Emma and I toured the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I have to tell you, it's tiny, the stairs make you feel entrapped and claustrophobic; it's just eerie and very very sad. The walls on her bedroom are covered with plexiglass, protecting the magazine cutouts she stroked and adored. Her rare teenage view of the world outside as she hid from the enemy who wanted to murder her, her family and all the Jewish people.
Emma was 9 at the time she and I went through the museum; she was really into reading and researching and was absolutely fascinated by Anne Frank's Diary. She'd read it several times and, being a history buff like me, she wanted to see Anne's home.
Our hotel was a block away from the museum and we went on a Canal Cruise and stopped at several museums for two days while Doug conducted business.
Emma was 9 at the time she and I went through the museum; she was really into reading and researching and was absolutely fascinated by Anne Frank's Diary. She'd read it several times and, being a history buff like me, she wanted to see Anne's home.
Our hotel was a block away from the museum and we went on a Canal Cruise and stopped at several museums for two days while Doug conducted business.
Upon entering and paying the fee, my jaw dropped about a foot, I immediately knew I'd messed up screwed up as a Mother. We were swiftly escorted into a small room and shown a short film that was far more graphic than I'd been prepared for. It explained how awful the conditions were for Anne and her family, what the outcome was (beyond the most horrible of horrible) and how they were helped by some friends and eventually betrayed by others who, God help them, claimed to be their friends.
Emma and I stood stock still, frozen. We watched as I tried to maintain my composure but I just knew I'd made a terrible Motherly mistake. At the conclusion of the film, the group of 30 of us were shell-shocked and completely silent, standing in disbelief that people could be so cruel, so disrepectful to other human beings.
Nobody moved. Nobody said a word. It was and is unbelievable.
Nobody moved. Nobody said a word. It was and is unbelievable.
In the 'Cone of Silence', suddenly, Emma piped up and, in her 9 - year -old voice, made a comment about Hitler: "Mummy, Why was that man so mean?" Suddenly, there was a huge intake of air in the room. The woman handling the remote control went white, grown men gasped and inhaled sobs in that fluttering way we do when we're just horror-stricken. That moment will never leave me, nor anyone in that room.
Anne Frank was a young girl with a talent for the written word. She inspired me, my daughter and zillions of other people by speaking the truth. Sometimes, the truth hurts, but Emma has always said that her experience at The Anne Frank House was one she will never forget.
Wouldn't it be a better world if we would all take a few minutes each day and write a few simple notes, keep a blog,
just jot down our thoughts, our activities.
What if we were to stop texting and ditch the Facebook habit that means nothing to anyone. A fleeting glimpse.
So immediately forgotten or, even worse, misinterpreted.
Take five minutes. Scribble a diary.
If you can't do that, take notes on napkins.
These are often the best ideas ever recorded and many a famous screenplay was written on a paper napkin.
Thank you, Anne Frank for writing
the FINEST MOST POIGNANT blog ever.
Where would this world be if you hadn't taken the time?
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