(Anne Frank House, annefrank.org)
It's possible to be uppity when you're just a child as Nujood Ali proves. But it takes a special kind of uppityness to put a human face on the struggle of millions when you're still a child. One dedicated act of documentation of a struggle to survive has left an indelible mark on the minds of people all over the world. Published in more than 60 languages, Anne Frank's diary provides a crushing view of persecution. She is snarky, petulant and all too human. She is all of us when we were young. I'll never forget reading it the first time and feeling crushed to learn that she and Margot died only a few short weeks before the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. It is still hard to imagine what every day of living in that camp was like for such a vibrant soul.
Maybe world leaders should have to read it once a year?
Aside to Michael- even she's been slandered! (Holocaust deniers have long called the diary a fake...)
© Bright Nepenthe, 2010
I'm sorry, how can anyone deny the Holocaust?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, world leaders ought to read and re-read it.
There's an interesting question: in your survey of Uppity Women (which I'm really enjoying, by the way), how many *haven't* been slandered? I'm prepared to bet that slander is the rule, rather than the exception.
ReplyDelete('Cause, y'know, how else are we going to keep the social controls intact? If women start thinkin' it's okay ta be upp'ty, we won' be able ta tell 'em what to do anymore. It'd be the end of life as we know it!)
Jen, you're endearingly naive.
ReplyDeleteMichael, I suppose you are 100% correct but it's so... upsetting! I'm glad you're enjoying the series. Maybe I'll print them all at the end of the month and send it to Dr. New. LOL