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| Image by Brenda @ It's A Beautiful Life |
"It is lovely weather and in spite of everything we
make the most we can of it by lying on a camp bed in
the attic, where the sun shines through an open window."
ANNE FRANK
Many good folks are creating a more deliberate online presence and community during this world-wide season of isolation by offering their unique version of pleasant and interesting material to help people feel supported and connected.
For the time being, I want to join in and post more regularly, all in an effort to help boost morale. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm sharing excerpts from the many books on my shelves, randomly opening pages and selecting a few lines, or sometimes following page numbers with calendar dates. I might comment on the chosen portion or just leave the author say it. Tags: Creating Community In Isolation; Pressing My Books Into Service
The other day one of our CBC Radio 2 presenters, while introducing the next piece of music, mentioned our current world situation. She talked about listeners who might want to consider keeping a diary or journal to record how this historic event is affecting them, their families, their jobs, their home life. This brought to mind Anne Frank's diary and how she shared the dailies of what her world looked like and how it felt during those two years of her family's isolation in WWII. Her writings as a twelve-year-old continue to give light and inspiration to readers today, even seventy-plus years later.
Perhaps as a society we count on our journalists and historians to track these things, but ofttimes it's the ordinary people chronicling their own personal experiences in times of hardship and war that show us the human side of these stories. Thankfully some of them, like Anne Frank's, survive and become valuable sources of inspiration down the road. As for me, I have been keeping notes in my journal about what's going on around us, nothing really detailed. I'm curious to know if you are one who likes to track things like this.
Perhaps as a society we count on our journalists and historians to track these things, but ofttimes it's the ordinary people chronicling their own personal experiences in times of hardship and war that show us the human side of these stories. Thankfully some of them, like Anne Frank's, survive and become valuable sources of inspiration down the road. As for me, I have been keeping notes in my journal about what's going on around us, nothing really detailed. I'm curious to know if you are one who likes to track things like this.
Now, here's today's excerpts. I chose some lines from Eleanor Roosevelt's introductory remarks and a random entry from page 116 of Anne Frank's Diary. If you've never read the book, I hope you are intrigued...
March 24th
Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
"This is a remarkable book. Written by a young girl--and the young are not afraid of telling the truth--it is one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that I have ever read. Anne Frank's account of the changes wrought upon eight people hiding out from the Nazis for two years during the occupation of Holland, living in constant fear and isolation, imprisoned not only by the terrible outward circumstances of war but inwardly by themselves, made me intimately and shockingly aware of war's greatest evil--the degradation of the human spirit. At the same time, Anne's diary makes poignantly clear the ultimate shining nobility of that spirit. Despite the horror and the humiliation of their daily lives, these people never gave up. ..." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
* * *
"It was on a Friday afternoon after five o'clock. I had come out of my room and wanted to sit at the table to write, when I was roughly pushed on one side and had to make room for Margot and Daddy, who wanted to practice their 'Latin'. The fountain pen (given to Anne by her grandmother) remained unused while, with a sigh, its owner contented herself with a tiny corner of the table and started rubbing bing beans. 'Bean rubbing' is making moldy beans decent again. I swept the floor at a quarter to six and threw the dirt, together with the bad beans, into a newspaper and into the stove. A terrific flame leaped out and I thought it was great that the fire should burn up so well when it was practically out. All was quiet again, the 'Latinites' had finished, and I went and sat at the table to clear up my writing things, but look as I might, my fountain pen was nowhere to be seen. I looked again, Margot looked, but there was not a trace of the thing. "Perhaps it fell into the stove together with the beans," Margot suggested. ...
And so it was, our unhappy fears were confirmed; when Daddy did the stove the following morning the clip used for fastening was found among the ashes." ~ Anne Frank
* * *
Be safe. Be well. Be calm.
💙
Wishing you a beautiful day.
Heart Hugs,
Brenda
xox
Alas, I must read this one in happy times because it is a mood dampener for me. I knew a woman who became a friend of Mr. Frank’s in their later years. She shared some insights that he had shared with her. He was, at that time, providing tours of the annex where they had lived. Sobering indeed. One of the things he shared was the importance of not becoming bitter.
ReplyDeleteIt is so pleasant to have bloggers writing more often again. 🌷
One of my friends is posting a simple daily log on Facebook each night. It is just a summary of their family's (Mom, Dad, and two teen girls) daily activities during self-quarantine and occasionally a line or two about their feelings that day. It is short and sweet, but one of the things I most look forward to reading each day.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing these words and for doing your part to keep our blogging community alive and well and connected!
Thank you so much. I'm going to be sharing this excerpt with some friends.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard that presenter on CBC about keeping a journal, but I think it's a good idea (that I started about 10 days ago). Coincidentally, an English class that I filled in for while another teacher was ill for a few days was reading Anne Frank's Diary and I read several chapters aloud to the class. It is sobering to remember the horrors she went through, and a reminder to us to keep our attitudes positive and soft.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this book again!
ReplyDeleteIt is incredibly sobering to read from Anne Frank's diary. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteStay well!
I remember vaguely reading Ann Frank's diary but I must have been quite young because my memory of her writings are forgotten - except that it was so sad. Perhaps someday I will check this one out again. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this blog, Brenda!! I've shared it with a number of friends. I recently reread Anne Frank's Diary, along with much of her other writings that have been recently compiled. What a brilliant and perceptive author! She was motivated to polish her diary when a radio broadcaster encouraged people to write their wartime memoirs, and had begun to do so. I also visited the Ann Frank House when I was in Amsterdam. A very powerful experience!
ReplyDelete