Quotation for Saturday 28th March 2020

Good morning everyone,

One of the things I like to do when times are troubled and I’m feeling down, is to compare my trouble to someone else who suffered much more.

During this crisis, whenever I’m feeling a bit bleak, I choose Anne Frank as my comparison, for some pretty obvious reasons.

A few minutes considering her plight, the plight of her other family members and those others who hid with them, never fails to bring balance back to the situation I’m in.

I once visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. I’d have like to have done so at a quiet time, to really experience its atmosphere, but it’s always extremely busy, and I know I didn’t feel the full impact of what it must have been like to be in hiding and at the full mercy of a few kind and understanding (and brave) people.

But it did give me some sense of the dire circumstances she, and they, were all in, the fear of discovery, the lack of food, the loss of freedom and the difficulty of being confined in such a small area. And to go through it at such a tender age when life should have been blossoming for Anne, her sister Margot and Peter van Pels.

Perhaps we share one thing in that we don’t really know how and when, all of this is going to end, but my situation in isolation far more bearable for remembering the Franks, the van Pels and eventually Fritz Pfeffer who joined them later.

So today, my quotation is some of Anne's own words as written in her diary.

“It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they all seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” -Anne Frank-

Imagine the grace Anne had to still believe in the goodness of people. But of course good does eventually prevail, and I’m beginning to believe in people’s goodness again now too. We are seeing much more of it ever since the onset of this crisis. My deepest wish for us all is that we continue to be kinder when this period of trouble is over.

Take care everyone and please stay safe and well.