Motivation From the History of Others

What is it about reading family history that is so enthralling?

Let's consider the powerful influence of personal histories, some famous ones. The Diary of Anne Frank is a book commonly read by Language Arts students in high school. Why? Because educators know of it's influence on teens. After all, it's a novel about a Jewish teen in hiding during World War II. Take a look at this post by Schelly Talalay Dardashti on her blog, Helene Berr: France's Anne Frank for a discussion of how Anne's diary and Helen Berr's journal have impacted youth around the world. Here is a quote from Helene Berr's publication on Schelly's post:

"We are living hour by hour, not even week by week," she writes. Instead of fleeing she works as a volunteer at a holding camp for children whose parents have already been deported. "They play in the yard ... repugnant, covered in sores and lice. Poor little kids," Berr confides to her diary, recounting how her co-workers beseech her to flee France while there is still time.

Now, if I were today struggling with something, say I was newly homeless due to a hurricane (Katrina wasn't that long ago), and I had read this sometime before. I hope I would remember it, and it would give me strength. I would say to myself, "If this young girl can live hour by hour, can tend poor little kids who's parents have been deported away from them, surely I can handle my adversity." Recently I became seriously ill. I had to live each day one at a time, and it was the words of one of my ancestors that kept me going, little bit by little bit.

Now take this one step further: For a moving example of how The Diary of Anne Frank has changed lives, get yourself a copy of Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition). This movie is the true story of a high school teacher who reaches across racial and social barriers to connect with her students.

This is the essence of connecting with other people by reading their stories. Their true life stories. This essence is the power to make us better people, and that connection is even more powerful when it is your own relatives you connect with. In my next blog, I'll share an example of how an ancestor of mine helped me. In the mean time, share in comments how you've been moved by reading the history of someone, a relative or not.