In Memoriam

Miep Gies has passed away. For me, she was important less for having helped hide Anne Frank and her family than for thinking that it was just an ordinary thing to do. She did not see herself as a hero.

On the one hand, yes, she risked her life. That’s big, dramatic, epic. On the other hand, many of the things that she did were so small, yet so significant. Gathering supplies by traveling all over Amsterdam, finding small gifts for the people in the annex room so that they would know that though they were hidden they were not forgotten, saving a teenager’s diary so that when she came home from the camps she would have something of her own, giving a bereaved father a place to live after his daughter did not come home from the camps,. Any of us could have refused those simple things. I’m too busy, I don’t have enough money, I have to take care of my own family. I’m too small. I’m not a hero. But really, we are more powerful than we know. All we have to do is try.

And it’s such an important idea – how much simple power every human has. Anyone can stand up to hate. Anyone can refuse intolerance. Anyone can help another person in need. We don’t need to be brave as heroes. Just a little brave. Just as brave as Miep Gies.