I woke up today to the following words --- a shared post by a friend on her Facebook page (see below). Simply put, this small post brought back a few memories of my own life. When I was just ten years old, my mother brought home a copy of Anne Frank's book, The Diary of a Young Girl, written when Frank was only a few years older than I was. I read that book in one day, always having loved to read and share. Thus my purpose here. I'm sharing these thoughts because if anyone is feeling anxious about the future, reading this book might be a good place to start considering our nation's very recent direction.
At thirty-three years old, I also visited the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam. It was such a humbling experience, and of course, extremely memorable. At one time, I had pictures of that museum afternoon, but sadly those photographs have all disappeared in the many moves I've experienced over the last ten years.
Nevertheless, here's that Anne Frank post (see below) from this morning accompanied by one of my photos from last week here in Denver, Colorado at the Women's March. This pic will have to substitute for an actual photograph from the museum in Europe.
Food for thought: Can you imagine what impact Anne Frank may have had if she'd been able to live out her life, as her father had hoped, in the U.S. with the rest of her family?
Paragraph below written by Melissa Larson, Salt Lake City, Utah
Anne Frank is a name you know because she died in a concentration camp at the age of 15.
Perhaps you've read her diary, published posthumously. Perhaps you've seen a play about her brief life or, like me, visited the museum that bears her name.
In 1938 and again in 1941, Anne's father Otto applied to the National Refugee Service, hoping to bring his family to the U.S. Though he was a respected businessman with American connections, both requests were denied. Our government feared that fleeing Jews could be spies for the Nazis.
So Otto went to work building an elaborate hiding place behind a false bookcase, praying it would be enough for his family to survive the war.
