An "Ordinary" Heroine

[kestrels_nest]

Miep Gies, the woman who found Anne Frank's diary and saved it, has died at age 100. She was in her early thirties when the Nazis first came to Holland. Her employer, Otto Frank, had moved his family to Amsterdam to escape the increasing virulence of the Nazi regime in their native Germany. When the Nazis came to the place the Franks had hoped

Comments

[katerinfg]

I find it comforting to think that she has been reunited with her friends.

[jlsgaladriel]

I was struck in reading that NPR release earlier today by that same thought, that her insistance on her 'ordinariness' rather than her heroism was yet another great blessing.

Because if only heroes can do momentous important things, well, that lets most of us out.

But if regular folks can find it in themselves to do what is right, even in great risk and inconvenience and difficulty, then we have no excuse. We're *expected* to take care of each other. It's a burden for us non-heroes, but it's also empowerment and a great blessing.

At their best, I think that's what both Judaism and Christianity teach: that God works in and through regular flawed human beings, if only we'll let Him.

[ardent_firesong]

What is remembered, lives.

[ladymondegreen]

May her memory be a blessing to us all, as she was to Anna and her family, and their fellow refugees.

Rest in peace, Miep. You were what all of us should aspire to be.