Anne Frank on Kindness

Anne Frank on Kindness

How wonderful it is that no one has to wait, but can start right now to gradually change the world! How wonderful it is that everyone, great and small, can immediately help bring about justice by giving of themselves!

As with so many things, most people seek justice in very different quarters, and grumble because they themselves receive so little of it.

Open your eyes, be fair in your own dealings first! Give whatever there is to give! You can always—always—give something, even if it is only kindness!

This is from Anne Frank's Diary, March 24, 1944. I had the full essay framed on my wall when I was growing up. My mother still has it somewhere. This is a slightly different translation, but it's the parts that I feel are important. She would have been about 15 when writing this. At age 15 she understood the power that everyone has to change the world by just being a bit kinder to those around them.