Today's challenge was fun one for me. It was to talk about my favorite quotes, but it was hard to pick just one, because I love quotes. I think quotes are pretty powerful things. They start of as simple words from sometimes ordinary, to sometimes extraordinary people. Each and everyday, people ramble on about this and that, the world, themselves, their children, etc. But every once in a while, someone says something that is so powerful and so unforgettable, that those words and their message become embossed in the world for all of eternity.
The quote that I ultimately chose after a bit of deep thought and meditation, was the above one by Anne Frank, because it has a lot of meaning for me. First of all, it takes me back to my 8th grade year at Turkey Foot Middle School in Edgewood, KY to my English-Language Arts class. My teacher, Mr. Hart, was one of those exemplary teachers that left a lasting impact on both my head and my heart. His room was painted bright blue, he shook your hand at the door everyday, he taught me that art of show not tell in writing, and if your writing wasn't up to par...he let you know and helped you fix it. He even play Whitney Houston's I Believe the Children are the Future on our last day of 8th grade because he truly believe it. I still have my journal from his class, and go back and read it from time to time to take a stroll down memory lane. During that year, like many 8th grade students, we read the Diary of Anne Frank. I learned more about Nazi Germany in his middle school English class than I ever did in a history book. We didn't just read the book, we learned it and lived it. Every thing from interview Holocaust survivors to learning about concentration camps to going to the play to see how Anne Frank's story came to life.
I remember reading The Diary of Anne Frank and turning each page with anticipation to see just how her story unfolded. It amazed me then and still amazes me today, that although she literally went to hell and back for no reason other than someone else's bigotry and hatred, she kept her face in the sun. I've always had a feeling that with every stroke of her pen, that Anne Frank probably knew that she would never make it out alive. But what she didn't know, was that her words would leave her footprints on the history of the world.
It takes a strong heart to go through what she went through and to at the end of the day still think that everyone has something good inside of them. Sometimes, on my hardest days, when I feel like the world is against me, I think of this quote and remind myself that if Anne Frank can still see the good in people, so can I.
No comments:
Post a Comment