July 27, Saturday

Back to the air conditioned hotel we went on Saturday morning as it was still hot, but not quite 100. We cranked out some more blogging and worked on our final projects as our time in class was soon coming to a close. More exploring of the city followed in the afternoon and in the evening the class met at the Anne Frank house. 6 years ago, I came to Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House, but a lot changes in 6 years, especially from the ages 14 to 20. In 2013, Barack Obama was the president of the United States. The Anne Frank house in 2019 means a lot more than it did in 2013. There are similarities to the people in power in the time of Anne Frank and the people in power now. We may not be on the verge of a world war, but the American Twitter sphere has virtually broke out into a cyber civil war. Who knows what the 2020s will bring? 

Anne Frank is just one example of someone who died due to pure hate in the Second World War. She was a very special 15 year old girl who was a better writer than the majority of the globe is today. John Green had a quote from his novel A Fault in Our Stars that he read aloud on a display in the house that really resonated with me. “The book was turned to the page with Anne Frank’s name, but what got me about it was the fact that right beneath her name there were four Aron Franks. FOUR. Four Aron Franks without museums, without historical markers, without anyone to mourn them. I silently resolved to remember and pray for the four Aron Franks as long as I was around.” Anne Frank represents more than just a girl in hiding. She represents more than just one person whose life ended in a concentration camp. She is proof that there are more people suffering in this world than you think. Not everyone on this planet may end up with a museum when they die, but there’s a hell of a lot of people that deserve one.