Boise, Idaho, is home to the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. It is a peaceful and educational space that encourages each of us to reflect on human rights issues in the world, and how we choose to respond to them. In my final semester at Boise State University, I became allured by this memorial. It was as if it beckoned to me, whispering, “Please, come sit and be here with me. Listen to our voices.” So I did. I allotted extra time to stop here on my bike ride to class in the mornings. I would sit, read the quotes on the memorial walls, and reflect on my personal life and the world around me.
One of Anne Frank’s famous quotes has been permanently imprinted in my mind:
In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
As Anne Frank still chose and believed that people are really good at heart, how do we rediscover this goodness in today’s world? How do we discover this tenderness within each of us in the face of human rights violations? How can we find this inner softness when we look around only to see our fellow humans hurting one another through words and actions? I wish I had all of the answers… Nonetheless, I think of Anne Frank and try to connect with her spirit. She endured and lived amidst absolute destruction. Death surrounded her in every moment. Yet somehow, her spirit was not deterred, and she found it within her to believe in the goodness of humanity. She did not respond with hate.
It leads me to think, too, of Jesus on the cross when he utters, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” I think it speaks to the element of unconsciousness we all fall prey to. It highlights the dangers that become a product of the ideas and beliefs we subscribe to. We believe the things we believe, and we genuinely think our beliefs are the purest, or our stance on an issue is the utmost morally correct perspective. We become willing to kill and murder for our beliefs and ideologies. We honestly do not recognize the wrong we are doing or how we are hurting other people. It is like we are wearing horse blinders, and we become a slave to our tunnel vision—slave to our beliefs. We become blinded by ourselves and our thoughts and blind to the pain we cause others. We become unwilling to change and unable to imagine things differently...
How can we find our way back to one another? If Anne Frank clenched to the goodness of humanity while living in hiding and concentration camps, can each of us connect to this same hope right now?
If you would like to learn more about the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, please feel free to visit their website: https://annefrankmemorial.org
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