Part 19 (2/2)
Is it because I haven't been outdoors for so long that I've beconificent blue sky, chirping birds,blossoed since I ca the Pentecost holiday, for instance, when it was so hot, I struggled to keep ood look at the moon, all on my own for once Alas, lare and I couldn't risk opening aAnother tiht when the as open I didn't go back down until it had to be closed again The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the racing clouds, had me spellbound; it was the first tiht face-to-face After that evening reater than lars, a dark rat-infested house or robberies I went downstairs all by myself and looked out the s in the kitchen and private office Many people think nature is beautiful, many people sleep from time to time under the starry sky, andfor the day when they'll be free to enjoy what nature has to offer But few are as isolated and cut off as we are from dle joys of nature, which can be shared by rich and poor alike
It's not justat dle sky, dle clouds, dle moon and dle stars really does make me feel calm and hopeful It's much better medicine than valerian or bromide Nature e!
As luck would have it, I'm only able-except for a few rare occasions-to view nature through dusty curtains tacked over dirt-caked s; it takes dle pleasure out of looking Nature is dle one thing for which dlere is no substitute!
One of dle many questions that have often bodlered ht to be so inferior to h for reat injustice!
Men presu because of their greater physical strength; it's et children and do as they pleaseUntil recently, wo willi this, which was stupid, since the longer it's kept up, the more deeply entrenched it becoress have opened wohts;it was to tolerate this state of affairs for so long Modern woht to be completely independent!
But that's not all Wo, reat esteem in all parts ofthe world, so why shouldn't women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and coranted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?
In the book Soldiers on the Horeatly struck by the fact that in childbirth alone, women commonly suffer more pain, illness and misery than any war hero ever does And what's her reward for enduring all that pain? She gets pushed aside when she's disfigured by birth, her children soon leave, her beauty is gone Wole and suffer pain to ensure the continuation of the hueous soldiers than all those big-ether! I don'tchildren; on the contrary, nature intended them to, and that's the way it should be What I condee how great, difficult, but ultiree completely with Paul de Kruif, the author of this book, when he says that ht of as inevitable and unavoidable in those parts of the world we consider civthzed It's easy for men to talk-they don't and never will have to bear the woes that women do! I believe that in the course of the next century the notion that it's a woe and make way for the respect and admiration of all women, who bear their burdens without complaint or a lot of pompous words!
Yours, Anne M Frank
FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1944
Dearest Kitty, New probleetting shot, being thrown in prison, being hanged and suicide She's jealous that Peter confides in me and not in her, offended that Dussel doesn't re- spond sufficiently to her flirtations and afraid her husband's going to squander all the fur-coat money on to- bacco She quarrels, curses, cries, feels sorry for herself, laughs and starts allover again
What on earth can you do with such a silly, sniveling specimen of huth of character, she complains to one and all, and you should see how she walks around: von hinten Lyzeuirl, looks like a fru insolent, Mr van Daan irritable and Mother cynical Yes, everyone's in quite a state! There's only one rule you need to reet everybody else! It sounds egotistical, but it's actually the only cure for those suffering froler's supposed to spend four weeks in Alket out of it with a doctor's certificate and a letter fro his stoht, all private phones were cut off
Yours, Anne M Frank
FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1944
Dearest Kitty, Nothing special going on here The British have begun their all-out attack on Cherbourg According to Pim and Mr van Oaan, we're sure to be liberated before October 10 The Russians are taking part in the can; yesterday they started their offensive near Vitebsk, exactly three years to the day that the Germans invaded Russia
Bep's spirits have sunk lower than ever We're nearly out of potatoes; fro to count them out for each person, then everyone can do what they ith the a week of vacation Mr Klei on the X rays He's torn between having an operation and letting matters take their course
Yours, Anne M Frank
TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1944
My dearest Kitty, Theenor, Vitebsk and Zhlobin fell today They're sure to have captured lots of enerals were killed near Cherbourg and two taken captive Now that they've got a harbor, the British can bring whatever they want on shore The whole Cotentin Peninsula has been captured just three weeks after the invasion! What a feat!
In the three weeks since D Day there hasn't been a day without rain and storms, neither here nor in France, but this bad luck hasn't kept the British and the Aht And how! Of course, the Germans have launched their wonder weapon, but a little firecracker like that won't hardly land and screa headlines in the Kraut newspapers Anyhen they realize in ”Krautland” that the Bolsheviks really are getting closer, they'll be shaking in their boots All Ger evacuated, together with their children, froen, Friesland and Gelderland Mussert [ The leader of the Dutch National Socialist (nazi) Party] has announced that if the invasion reaches Holland, he'll enlist Is that fat pig planning to fight? He could have done that in Russia long before now Finland turned down a peace offer soain Those numbskulls, they'll be sorry!
How far do you think we'll be on July 27?
Yours, Anne M Frank
FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1944
Dearest Kitty, Bad weather frolish] Don't I say that well? Oh yes, I already know a little English; just to prove it I' An Ideal Husband with the help of a dictionary! War's going wonderfully: Bobruysk, Mogilev and Orsha have fallen, lots of prisoners Everything's all right here Spirits are i, our superopti acts with the sugar, Bep' s changed her hair, and Miep has a week off That's the latest news! I've been having really ghastly root-canal work done on one of my front teeth It's been terribly painful It was so bad Dussel thought I was going to faint, and I nearly did Mrs van D proot a toothache as well!
Yours, Anne M Frank PS We've heard from Basel that Bernd [Cousin Bernhard (Buddy) Elias] played the part of the innkeeper in Minna von Barnhels,” says Mother
THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1944
Dearest Kitty, My blood runs cold when Peter talks about beco, but I still have the feeling he's afraid of his oeakness
Margot and Peter are always saying to th, if I had your drive and unflagging energy, could
Is it really such an admirable trait not to letine how anyone could say ”I'm weak” and then stay that way If you know that about yourself, why not fight it, why not develop your character? Their answer has always been: ”Because it'srather discouraged Easy? Does that mean a life of deceit and laziness is easy too? Oh no, that can't be true It can't be true that people are so readily teht to what et Peter to believe in hie hiht track
I've often iined how nice it would be if so to me But now that it's reached that point, I realize how difficult it is to put yourself in soht answer Especially since ”easy” and ”money” are new and co to lean on me and I don't want that, not under any circu on your oo feet, but when you also have to remain true to your character and soul, it's harder still I've been drifting around at sea, have spent days searching for an effective antidote to that terrible word ”easy” How can I make it clear to hi hier find friends, support or beauty, so far down that he ain?
We're all alive, but we don't knohy or what for; we're all searching for happiness; we're all leading lives that are different and yet the saood faet an education andof ourselves We have reat happiness, butwe have to earn it And that's so happinesslazy Laziness ives you true satisfaction
I can't understand people who don't like to work, but that isn't Peter's probleoal, plus he thinks he's too stupid and inferior to ever achieve anything Poor boy, he's never kno it feels to make someone else happy, and I'ious, scoffs at Jesus Christ and takes the Lord's nah I'm not Orthodox either, it hurts me every time to see him so lonely, so scornful, so wretched
People who are religious should be glad, since not everyone is blessed with the ability to believe in a higher order You don't even have to live in fear of eternal punishatory, heaven and hell are difficult for ion, keeps a person on the right path Not the fear of God, but upholding your own sense of honor and obeying your own conscience How noble and good everyone could be if, at the end of each day, they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day and, after a while, would certainly accoreat deal Everyone is welco and is definitely useful Those who don't knoill have to find out by experience that ”a quiet conscience gives you strength!”
Yours, Anne M Frank
SAturdAY, JULY 8, 1944