The coolest chick I know

Okay so I've never actually met her, but Anne Frank has made an impression on me like no one else.

I've always been fascinated by World War II. Maybe because I was fortunate enough to have been taught about it by a German woman who was smuggled from East Berlin to West as a baby. (And that woman, Hannah Stolen, from The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary school in Maplewood, MN is the next coolest chick I know.)

So today I read that Miep Gies died sometime in 2010. He is one of the last surviving members of the small group of people who helped hide the Franks and their annex-mates during the Nazi occupation of Holland. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press "When the family was betrayed, Gies preserved the writings left behind by one of the children. It was the diary of Anne Frank."

Thank you, Miep and thank you, Anne. Because this quote from "Kitty" in particular is one that has made an indelible mark on my brain:

"Despite everything, I believe people are really good at heart."

I remember almost fainting when I read that in 7th grade. And the next thing I remember was making Anne Frank my imaginary "bestie" for life.

I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions but I decided this morning that these are the words by which I will try and live every day of 2011...and hopefully the rest of my life.

You see, I don't care for people that much. And the older I get, the more judgemental and impatient I become. These are not nice qualities and they really don't work that well.

People like it when they think you like them, so I think I'll try. It will have to start as an act, but I am big on fake-it-'til-you-make-it so I'll start there.

I'll start with the dummies, I mean people who still think in 2011 that it's really cool to have a cell phone and use it anywhere they please in public.

Next I'll think of Anne when some A-munch retail employee gives me a chipper, "Sure don't." when I ask if they carry a certain product. And when they subsequently stare blankly at me and don't offer a suggestion about where I might find said product, I will leave instead of saying "You 'sure don't'? That's enormously helpful. You should totally keep working here. You're really good at this."

And when those in my life who eat entitlement for breakfast, apathy for lunch and a big bowl of "You take care of it, Lynda." for dinner, show me that they can shove their head even further up their a**, instead of imaging how fun it would be to drop a firecracker down their pants, I will think of Anne and wonder how in the hell she wrote such lovely, inspiring, and incredibly mature words during such a terrifying experience.

Ugh. I better go. I have a lot of work to do.

Happy New Year!

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