A girl writes a diary, and her life is forever a memorial for the world to view. That’s obviously not true for every girl, but when the girl’s name happens to be Anne Frank, then that diary becomes a symbol of all the horrors we now call the Holocaust. Today, eighty-three years after her date of birth, this blog is dedicated to her memory.
A girl writes in her diary. Isn’t that an every day experience? Yes, but it’s the experiences which she wrote about that made all the difference. Were there other girls who suffered innumerable tragedies like that of Anne and her family? Yes, but Anne wrote about them. She was neither an author nor a learned scholar of any sort. She was just an ordinary girl who lived through an extraordinary horror.
I’ve written a book about another girl. Her name is Esther Ruth Raul, and her story is told in Twelve Smooth Stones. She too lived through the Holocaust and all the horrors of displacement, but she lived to tell about it. Esther, a young Jewish girl from Amsterdam could have been at Westerbork the same time as Anne Frank. She may have even ridden in the same train fromAmsterdam to Westervbork! They both ended up atAuschwitz, but there their paths diverged. Anne embodies all who died – Esther, all who lived.
Does it matter that Esther is a fictitious character? It may to some; however, the fiction only serves to protect the privacy that so many deserve in this age of tell-all dramas. There lives may not match Esther’s exactly, especially her discovery of the Living Word of God; but my prayer is that they may just be curious enough to read about Esther’s journey and make it their own! The story isn’t over until the last page is read. Our life story isn’t over either until God turns the last page.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jer 29:13
Beyond Common Sense 