I first read Anne Frank鈥檚 diary when I was twelve, almost as old as she was when she started writing it. At the time, I completely missed the point ofI first read Anne Frank鈥檚 diary when I was twelve, almost as old as she was when she started writing it. At the time, I completely missed the point of it being published. I simply read it and liked Anne, recognizing in her another person who enjoyed writing, but I understood very little about the circumstances of her life. Sitting through a few syllabus-approved history lessons doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean one grasps the full nature of the atrocities that people inflicted on each other.
When I read it now, I admire her courage, maturity and optimism in the face of such trying times. As a teenager, cooped up in the annexe, she even remained level-headed enough to point her flaws out to herself and thought often of how she could improve. She thought of other people, and wished she could help them. She questioned religion, sexism, repressive thought, conformity, her parents, and even herself. Anne seemed like she was a rebel, as the best people tend to be.
Some people say she symbolises all the Jewish people who suffered, but rather than see Anne as a posterchild for any religion, I see her as an ordinary schoolgirl who wanted to get on with her life, and happened to be badly let down by the world she lived in. Horrible things continue to happen to good people, even today. Houla and Homs are modern-day horrors, and there are diaries we will never read belonging to just-as-wonderful people all over the world.
It really says something about us humans that the questions Anne asked almost seventy years ago remain unanswered:
鈥淲hy are millions spent on the war each day, while not a penny is available for medical science, artists or the poor? Why do people have to starve when mountains of food are rotting away in other parts of the world? Oh, why are people so crazy?鈥� ...more
I think the people who would most enjoy this book are those who care about schooling, and children's education. Many schools emphasise obedience, confI think the people who would most enjoy this book are those who care about schooling, and children's education. Many schools emphasise obedience, conformity, and performance in exams over learning and individual, original thought, and genuine kindness to others. In this book, there are many stories of Totto-chan's childhood, and her time in Tomoe Gakuen, the informal school. I thought the nicest one to recount would be this one, because it reminds me how much good reassurance and encouragement from teachers can do: It never matters whether on a particular day, Totto-chan has been mischievous or well-behaved, unruly or cooperative, selfish or considerate, messy or tidy; she can be sure that her headmaster, Mr Kobayashi, will always pat her on the head and say, "You're a really good girl, you know." Tetsuko Kuroyanagi goes on to explain beautifully how this made her always want to be a good person, and not simply a child who did the correct things to follow adults' rules and avoid punishment. It is meaningful because too many people (even as mature adults) rely on external factors (such as judgement from some sort of God-like idea, or approval of family and society) to find the will to be a good, kind person. I don't think acts of kindness that are conscious make anyone genuinely kind. They need to come naturally, and they do when you have people like Mr Kobayashi telling children what good people they are. ...more