At this time of Global confrontation with the Covid-19 Virus, it might be valuable to reflect on the commitment and persistence of Anne Frank and her family and what they endured to escape another type of deadly disease. They survived 748 days in a tiny attic in Amsterdam. And Anne’s father survived another 40 years. And while this article does not weigh the horrific causes of each tragedy, there are survival similarities. After all, the tools for fighting evil giants are strikingly similar.
Anne and her family had to banish all forms of social interaction, to keep from being exposed to the evil that sought them. They only associated with a few trusted souls and otherwise managed to keep themselves from the public interaction. So, the Frank family taught us to be focused on limiting social interaction. And for 748 days they were successful. It was successful for them and will be for us.
In addition, the Frank family had limited resources: they could not work, had little savings, shared food, and other limited necessities to survive. Yes, I am certain even toilet paper was issued by individual sheets and distributed sparingly among the eight people hiding in the tiny attic in Amsterdam. It is obvious that sharing becomes important during times of survival. For them, and for us.
Necessities become more important than “wants” for those seeking a prolonged life and not an early death. Determining what is necessary for survival includes assessing what will help you succeed. We are bound with the Frank family in determining what is necessary, and not what is merely a pleasantry. Engaging in reading, games, and sharing human speech chases away boredom and gives us the ability to check off the hours more quickly. These things are necessities. For them, and for us.
“Whoever is happy, will make others happy, too.” – Anne Frank
Almost everyone who has read Anne’s secret diary, or has seen the award-winning play, knows that her survival not only depended on her father Otto but her affection for young Peter van Pels. We must remember and cherish the relationships, our children, parents, other loved ones, to maintain hope and embrace endurance until help comes. It is, after all, love for one another that provides us a reason to live.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank
Finally, it was the notion that help will come, encouraged by hope. To us, researchers will find a cure or at least an inoculation, or a prescription will be discovered to chase away the cough and fever and congestion. Or maybe, time will simply ease this plague into nothingness. With Anne, she did get to leave the attic, and then faced the possibility of death in a concentration camp. But as history tells us, it wasn’t the feared enemy that killed her, it was another evil, typhus fever, which took Anne Frank’s life. Her father Otto went on to live another forty years after the family was discovered and removed from the tiny attic. In doing so, he was able to share Anne’s story with the world. The story of survival. The story of great hope. And that hope is what we must keenly pursue.
