COQ: Anne Frank: Patience in Paper.

(sorry for the wrong post today, new kitten, she's hard work!)

Puffin Books, 2002. 

Page 6. 

"Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I've never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen year old schoolgirl. Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I feel like writing, and I have an even greater need to get all kinds of things off my chest. 'Paper has more patience then people'...Yes, paper does have more patience, and since I'm not planning to let anyone else read this stiff-backed notebook grandly referred to as 'diary', unless I should ever find a real friend, it probably won't make a bit of difference. Now that I'm back to the point that promoted me to keep a diary in the first place: I don't have a friend"  

My added post-it note comment: 

"Apart from the fact that you are much wiser then your years and wrote such a respected historical document, that is" 

Yes, our second COQ post is another post about journalling, but Anne Frank's diary was, after all, a diary so of course the first few pages are going to be mostly a focus on that, a focus I find interesting. Although there's many a thing in this particular quote that I want to talk about. 

First of all, we'll talk about the obvious thing to be talked about, "Patience in Paper".  My reasoning for starting a journal was the same as many others. I wanted a friend. I wanted someone who I could talk to about my troubles, my desires, my deepest and innermost thoughts, someone who would not judge me for what I had written and someone, most importantly, who would listen. However, even though this became Anne's aim and was supposed to start of as her aim, it was like she knew deep down that diary would become something. Not become what it has been, she would never have known her fate, but become her wanted future novel "The Secret Annexe", perhaps that was in the back of her mind from day one but she quickly crossed off that thought and decided her diary was to be hers and hers only, she would never share all the information out, just her own selected parts. And, for this opinion, I feel like not everything was shared with her diary and she kept a lot of it to herself. Even from day one. But, paper has patience, what she wrote was something getting off her chest and I feel like we can relate on that.

Secondly, on Anne not having a friend and seeing her journal as a friend. Many would see this as weird, however I like to think that the people who do follow this blog or at least read some selected posts do a fair bit of reading themselves and therefore may possibly keep a journal. You would understand the satisfaction on keeping a journal, how it can keep one from going completely insane, and help us during a time of need. I would be lost without my journal and I am thankful I have both hands in which to use it. 

Anne Frank was wiser beyond her years, as many thirteen year olds would not understand this. I am not taking a stab at technology, I am quite a fan of it myself, but nowadays (because I can't refer to a time I haven't lived in) thirteen year olds are more focused on gaining the attention from others in negative ways, most commonly faking mental illness or doing something drastic, and are so glued to their phones and focused on themselves they don't take into account deep thoughts like this one. Of course, this is a generalized thought, you are not 'dumb' just because of your age. 

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy these, and I'll see you for my next one, cheerio!