Plaza Thoughts

Yesterday I found myself, after visiting the Anne Frank House, with too little time to do a canal boat tour and too much time to head on back to the airport, so I sat for a little bit in the plaza next to the Anne Frank House. It was shady and breezy, very comfortable, with a beautiful view of the canal. Just off to the side was a statue of Anne. I sat there, feeling the uneven brick walkway underneath my feet, and I wondered: How does a people group get to that point?

How, in a beautiful, breezy, happy city like this one, did neighbors turn on neighbors? The Frank family and the others in hiding were reported to the police. They never found out who turned them in, but they were arrested by Dutch police. How did educated, friendly, NORMAL people end up in a situation where they were forced to hide like criminals, then hunted like prey? How did a life that included bicycling beside this canal, shopping for groceries, playing music, running with friends through this plaza turn into constant terror?

I'm not sure that the why's are nearly as important as the how's. I also had a very real feeling, as I sat on that bench, that Anne's situation isn't going to always be as foreign to us in America as it has been in the past. And truthfully? It feels a little selfish to even think it should be. It's hard to list areas of the world that have not been touched by tragedy, by genocide. We are blessed and we don't even know it. Or care.

In the midst of all the questions, I think the one answer we should look toward is that of the rescuer. Someone put personal safety aside and sacrificed everything for the Frank family. Someone moved from bystander to rescuer, and the only way to rescue is to put yourself in the same circle as the victim. I wonder, are the rescuers around today? Am *I* a rescuer?

As I'm certain will be the tone of the next three weeks, yesterday raised a lot of thoughts for me. I think this study is imperative, for me at least, to shake me up, to make me see things in a new light all the time. I also think I owe that to Anne.