I’m reading (well, listening to) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank for the first time since I read it when I was the same age as the author.  As an adult listening to her words, I am simultaneously exalted by her wisdom and devastated by her fate.  Such wisdom and honesty from someone I so easily identify with:  a young girl who writes to make it though her days, dreams of becoming a writer while doubting her talent, obsesses over boys, and ponders the meaning of life and happiness.

The fact that her writing was done while in captivity does not make her insight more beautiful, but highlights the oft-doubted truth that attitude is the one thing that each of us have control over, in spite of anything else going on around us.  Because I can’t say it any better than Anne Frank herself, I leave you with her words:

Sitting in front of the window and taking a long, deep look outside at God and nature, I was happy, just plain happy…As long as people feel that kind of happiness within themselves, the joy of nature, health, and much more besides, they’ll always be able to recapture that happiness.

Rich, prestige, everything can be lost.  But the happiness in your own heart can  only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.

Whenever you’re feeling lonely or sad, try going to the loft on a beautiful day and looking outside.  Not at the houses and the rooftops, but at the sky.  As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky, you’ll know that you’re pure within and will find happiness once more.

Grateful for the audacity of telling the truth, even if its only on the pages of a diary.