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Don’t Just Look For the Helpers: Be a Helper

Last week I wrote an article about Anne Frank, her isolation, and the lessons we can learn from her. At the same time, I also finished the movie edition of the book A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by Mr. Rogers. It was out of this combination of reading and research that got me thinking about “the helpers.”
Today’s Coffee: Stemwinder Blend from Fundamental Coffee Roasters

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The Helpers

Mr. Rogers describes when, as a kid, he’d see scary things on the news, his mother would comfort him by telling him to “look for the helpers.”
I thought about the six helpers that aided Anne and the other seven people hiding in the secret annex. They were: Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, Jan Gies, Bep Voskuijl, Johan Voskuijl, and Victor Kugler.
These six people risked their lives to come to the aid of others. One of them, Victor Kugler, was asked after the war why he helped them, he replied, “They were my friends…” He didn’t need any other reason.
Throughout history, there have been so many helpers, and I cannot possibly list them all. A few of them are Harriet Tubman, Corrie Ten Boom, our veterans, Oskar Schindler, Martin Luther King Jr., Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Paul Rusesabagina, Elizabeth Fry, Mother Teresa, 9/11 rescue workers, our firefighters, police officers, medical workers, etc., etc.
There are so many helpers throughout the history of the world, and even now, if we look closely, we can still find them.
However, I think we must take it one step further. We can’t just look for the helpers. We must also be a helper. Each of us must rise to the occasion presented to us and choose to help those around us.
When asked “why,” I hope we respond “because they were my friends, my fellow humans and because they needed help.”

Recommended Reading

If you are a teacher, or a parent, you need to read A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Fred Rogers’ insight and empathy for children is incredible! I highly recommend it!
I also recommend reading Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl. If you have middle school age kids or older, read it with them. Then discuss the parallels between our current stay-at-home situation and Anne Frank’s isolation. Anne’s diary offers a powerful perspective and also provides solace in knowing Anne shared similar feelings that they might have right now.
Post a comment about a helper who inspired you or an idea for ways we can all be helpers.

Let’s encourage each other!

May 1, 2020
Isolation and the Inspiring Story of Anne Frank
Isolation can heighten feelings of anxiety and fear. It can cause us to lose perspective and to lose hope. During this time of isolation, due to COVID-19, my mind was drawn to the story of Anne Frank. Anne Frank was a girl who knew something about isolation. She understood, better than most, the fear, loneliness, and uncertainty isolation and the factors surrounding it can bring.

It is normal to feel anxious and fearful and even wonder when, or if life will ever return to normal. Often our sleep is disrupted due to our anxiety and worries about the future. Anne experienced all of those feelings.

When we are isolated, it is easy to focus only on the negative, rather than all the good that still exists. Anne is an excellent example of someone who never lost sight of the beauty of life. She didn’t let her troubles keep her from hoping and dreaming.

Her story holds encouragement for those of us dealing with our feelings of loneliness and fear. It is also something that might benefit students struggling with their grief over the loss of graduation, school, and interactions with their peers. We can empathize with Anne’s story and also gain a new perspective on our current situation.

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Anne’s Story of Isolation

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, inspired me so much that during a recent trip to Europe, I visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I saw the room where she slept and the small desk where she wrote her diary. I tried to imagine living in this space, sharing the small bedrooms with a parent or a stranger for two years. It makes me a little bit claustrophobic just thinking about it.
I think of my own home compared with the space in the secret annex, almost half of it would fit in my bedroom alone.
Anne, along with many other children and families, hid in attics and secret rooms. They could not go outside or even look out without endangering their lives. They were in a forced isolation that makes my stay-at-home order look like a luxury vacation.
For over two years, Anne and her family hid in the secret annex. They could not go to the store or walk outside or contact anyone outside the annex. During the day, they couldn’t even flush the toilet and had to be extremely quiet when walking around.
During my tour at the Anne Frank House, I walked up the wooden staircase to the annex, and across the creaky wooden floors. I can tell you, moving around without making any noises, would have been very difficult!
The children could not attend school, play outside, go to parties, or talk to friends. Anne, her family, and those hiding with them no longer had the freedom to come and go as they pleased. They were utterly dependent on the help of those hiding them.
These people risked their lives to bring them food and news from the outside. They were the helpers and unsung heroes we can all aspire to become.

Learning from Anne Frank

So as I sit here at home, writing this at a desk by the window, I am thankful. Thankful that I can look outside and even walk outdoors. I can drive myself to the grocery store and walk around without fear.
Anne represents the Jewish people and the horrific events of The Holocaust; however, more than that, she symbolizes hope, faith, and human resilience. We can all relate to her because we all know what it’s like to doubt ourselves, to feel lonely and afraid, and to have dreams for a better life.
Anne Frank was a remarkable young woman. Although Anne would never live to see it, she accomplished a goal of hers while in isolation. The dream of being a published writer. She left a beautiful legacy, and there is so much we can learn from her life.
Here are several lessons from her diary that can teach us how to deal with times of isolation and inspire us to live fully.

To Never Lose Faith
Anne Frank had reasons to doubt the good in humanity. She had reasons to question God and her faith. However, she never stopped believing in God or in the good that still existed in the world.
Every Individual Matters
You matter. Your story matters. You never know the difference you can make if you’ll only share your unique gifts with the world.
“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.”
― Anne Frank
“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” ― Anne Frank
Self-Doubt is Normal
We will all have self-doubts. That’s a part of life. However, moving forward, even when we’re afraid or don’t know if we’ll ever be “good enough” is what matters.
If you have something that makes your heart sing, then do it for you, and the joy it gives you. I am so glad that Anne didn’t stop writing for as long as she was still alive.
To Learn From Our Mistakes
This might be one of the greatest lessons to learn from Anne’s story and The Holocaust. We must remember what happened, learn from it, and prevent it from happening again.
“What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.” ― Anne Frank
The Benefits of Journaling
A diary is a great way to get our thoughts down and our feelings. It is useful for kids and adults alike. Often if we have a safe space, such as a diary, we have the freedom to express our feelings without fear of repercussions or reproach. Writing is freeing and therapeutic.
“The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings; otherwise, I’d absolutely suffocate.” ― Anne Frank
To Be Dreamers
Oh, what a kindred spirit I find in Anne. She had so many dreams, and I bet, given a chance, she would have accomplished every one.
Focus on The Positive
Anne taught us to focus on what we have to be grateful for, despite our troubles.
I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.
― Anne Frank

Final Thoughts About Anne

Anne and her family went into hiding from the Nazis in July 1942. She was 13 years old. After two years of hiding in an annex over the warehouse where her father worked, they were captured by the Nazis and taken to concentration camps.
Anne went from the isolation of the annex to a concentration camp where she died at the age of 15.  She loved to write and hoped to one day be a famous writer. Sadly, Anne never saw this come to pass. She never had the opportunity to return to school, to fulfill her dreams, or to see her diary published. Anne never had the chance to return to a normal life.
Perhaps, as a tribute to Anne, and to all those who lost their lives too soon, we can do our best to live our lives fully. Chasing our dreams, inspiring those around us, and always believing there is more good than bad to be uncovered.
Our isolation is temporary; eventually, children will return to school, and we will celebrate with family once again. Anne Frank never stopped dreaming while in isolation, and I know she would have lived life passionately given a chance.
So what about you? What will you do with your life?
Anne’s diary, from those two years in isolation, has inspired millions of people around the world! Anne did, in fact, live on after she was dead.

Recommendations for Books & Movies About Anne Frank
Books:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Anne Frank’s Tales from the Secret Annex: A Collection of Her Short Stories, Fables, and Lesser-Known Writings by Anne Frank
Eva’s Story: A Survivor’s Tale By the Step Sister of Anne Frank by Eva Schloss
Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family by Miep Gies
Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife by Francine Prose
Movies & Television Shows
Anne Frank Remembered (1995)
Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001 TV-miniseries)
Icons of Our Time – Anne Frank (2013) (short 23-minute summary of her life)
Virtual Tour
Take a virtual tour through the secret annex in Amsterdam. You can look inside each of the rooms and learn facts behind their use.

“Who else but me is ever going to read these letters?” ― Anne Frank
Millions Anne, millions.
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April 30, 2020
Exciting Misadventures in Harbin, China

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At the end of my senior year in college, I received a scholarship to study the Mandarin Chinese language in China for one semester. At the end of my semester, my friend Angela met me in Beijing, where we started our one-month travel around China.
This would be our first international trip together (unless we count Canada), and we were both excited to be going on this adventure together! This post is about our misadventures in China and, specifically, our trip to Harbin, China.

About Harbin, China

One of the final places we visited during our one month travel in China was Harbin. Harbin is in northeastern China, in the Heilongjiang province. It is known for its cold weather.  How cold, you ask? Well, considering one of its nicknames is the “Ice City,” you can guess it gets pretty cold.
According to Travel China Guide, “The snow season can last as long as half a year. Harbin weather in January is the coldest with temperatures dropping to -38C (-36F), while it is just 20C (68F) on average in summer.” So, there you have it–it’s cold! They can build entire ice villages and not worry about them melting for months.
It was because of their cold weather that I wanted to visit. Well, not the cold weather, but rather the Harbin Ice Festival. The Harbin Ice Festival started over 36 years ago and is now the world’s largest ice festival. They construct entire buildings out of ice to create a life-sized ice village. They also add colorful lights to the ice sculptures to create a magical ice wonderland. It is awe-inspiring! Here are some photos from a BBC article about the Harbin Ice Festival.
Moe and I were visiting in mid-December, so we knew there was little chance that we’d get to see any of the ice sculptures since the festival doesn’t kick off until January. However, with our flight back to the States leaving in a week, this was our only chance to see it. So, with hopes of seeing some ice sculptures, and intent on exploring a new city, we boarded a plane to Harbin.

The Misadventures Begin

Our misadventures in Harbin start with our flight. To begin with, the flight left one hour late (not unusual when flying in China). Then, 20 minutes before landing in Harbin, they announced we were diverting to Qingdao for an emergency landing. O-K. However, 30-minutes before landing in Qingdao, we’re informed that we are diverting to a different airport.
We land in a dark and deserted airport and we are told the emergency landing is due to bad weather in Harbin. So now our plane sits in a dark, empty airport, in who-knows-where, China.
The Chinese passengers start chatting with each other. They also thought it was strange and didn’t sound too happy about it. They began making phone calls to family in Harbin, and from what I could understand (from my limited Chinese vocabulary), the people they phone in Harbin had no idea why the plane wouldn’t have come straight there as the weather was okay–no storms.
This photo was taken through the airplane window while waiting on the empty runway.
Here’s an audio file of our experience as we sat on the plane.
To hear the reports that there appeared to be no reason why they didn’t take us straight to Harbin, was not exactly comforting. So we sat there, contemplating why we landed in this deserted airport while listening to the frustration of our fellow passengers. Thankfully, about 30 minutes later, we continue to Harbin as planned.
I’ll still never know why we landed on that empty runway, and I guess it doesn’t matter. It was all part of the adventure!

Exploring Harbin

We have only one full day in Harbin, so we have to limit our sightseeing activities and maximize the time we have. We got up early that morning and started our day by visiting the Saint Sophia Cathedral. This former Russian Orthodox church is over 100 years old. It is now an art gallery. When I stood there looking up at the cathedral, I felt like perhaps I’d taken the wrong flight and landed in Russia. The cathedral really stands out among the surrounding architecture.
Saint Sophia Cathedral
After exploring the Saint Sophia Cathedral, we walked to Zhaolin Park. We watched the workers cutting large blocks of ice with which to build the massive ice structures for the upcoming Harbin Ice Festival. Although we couldn’t go inside the park, we saw a lot of the buildings being constructed as we walked around the park.

We continued walking to Stalin Park on the banks of the frozen Songhua River. The Songhua River is used to supply the ice needed to make the enormous ice sculptures for the ice festival. The workers come to the river and then carve out huge blocks of ice, which they then use to create ice bricks to form the buildings. Although we would love to have seen the actual ice festival, it was still fascinating watching the behind the scenes construction that goes into creating it.
People were out walking on the frozen Songhua River. You can also take horse-drawn carriage rides across the river. During the Harbin Ice Festival, in addition to the horse-drawn carriage rides, they have dog sleds, ice swimming, and other activities on the Songhua River.
The frozen Songhua River.

An Afternoon Adventure

After returning to our hotel, we made arrangements to have a taxi take us to our next stop, the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park. I love tigers, and this is one of Harbin’s recommended attractions, so we decided to check it out.
The drive to the Siberian Tiger Park was about a 30-minute drive outside of Harbin. Our driver turned off the highway and then turned down a side road before turning around to find the right road to the Siberian Tiger Park. It’s never a good sign when your taxi driver isn’t sure where your destination is.
We turned down a dirt road with tall brush on both sides. This excursion was starting to feel very remote. I guess I should have considered that they wouldn’t keep a bunch of Siberian tigers in the middle of town. The taxi driver lets us out at the main entrance, we pay him and then see about purchasing our tickets.

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Harbin Siberian Tiger Park

We paid for the standard tour before heading to the waiting room inside. You can choose a variety of experiences, including purchasing live chickens and goats that are fed to the tigers while you watch. We skipped that. Instead, we’re taking a small bus tour that drives us through the park, where the tigers roam freely.
As we wait for our tour, I overhear two men conversing in Mandarin Chinese. One of the men (who appears to be Chinese) tells the other man (who I later learn is from India) that I am probably Russian. A little annoyed, I reply (in Mandarin) that I am not Russian, that I am an American.
The Chinese man is shocked that I understand what he is saying. He comes over, apologizes, and then asks where I learned to speak Chinese–and thus begins our conversation.
Now, if I were in the U.S. and had overheard a stranger talking about me, I would be annoyed, but I wouldn’t say anything. However, after almost four months in China, I’ve learned that privacy and social boundaries are a Western luxury.
On almost a daily basis, in China, I was asked the following questions: Where did I live? Was I married? Did I have kids? How much money did I make? These are all questions in the U.S. we would never ask a stranger, but, in China, it is completely acceptable.
So at this point during my time in China, I embraced the culture of saying whatever you want to strangers, and I didn’t hold back on correcting this man when he referred to me as Russian. Later, I learned what a blessing in disguise this initial interaction with these men would be.
Our tour bus at the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park.

The Siberian Tiger Tour

It is time for our tour. We leave the warm confines of the waiting area and board a small bus. There are large windows on every side so you could view the tigers from your seat.
These are such beautiful creatures!
We wait while another SUV, a different package experience than ours, drove out to feed the tigers. One of the Siberian tigers walked up to the SUV, and its head came above the passenger window! I was in awe at how massive these beautiful creatures were. They are stunning!
Getting to see the tigers up close through the windows of the tour van was a great experience. However, there was also a section of the tour that you could walk through, that had animals in small cages. Some of them looked injured and others malnutritioned, including a liger, which of course, made me think of Napoleon Dynamite–“It’s pretty much my favorite animal…”
All in all, I loved seeing these gorgeous creatures, but it’s not an excursion I recommend. All in all, I felt the animals were not receiving proper care.
Here kitty, kitty!

Almost Stranded in Harbin, China

It was getting dark as we finished the tour, and since we were the final tour of the day, everyone headed outside to leave for home. I saw a taxi driver, and I ran over to him to ask if we could get a ride, he let me know he was waiting for someone else. I went to another taxi driver, but he was also waiting for someone else.
It was at this point I realized we had no way to get back to our hotel. Just when I felt a little panic starting to creep in, the two men I conversed with earlier, offered to give us a ride back to town in their car. Thank God! There was no way we could walk back to town in the dark, not to mention we wouldn’t even know how to find our way there.
We packed into their car and thanked them profusely for their generous offer. The Chinese man explained that there were no taxis that came there, except the ones reserved to take the employees home. We would have been stranded at the Harbin Tiger Park if they had not offered us a ride.
Me and the two men who befriended us on our car ride back to Harbin.
On the way back to town, we learned that the other man was there on business from India. The Chinese man was his business contact and host during his stay. The man from India told Angela and me that if we thought China was crowded, then we really needed to take a trip to India!
They dropped us off in town, and Moe and I stopped to eat dinner before walking to our hotel. This wasn’t the first misadventure of our trip to China. Thankfully it was the last.

Other Misadventures in China

There was the time we visited a remote Shaolin temple, only to learn there weren’t any “official” taxi drivers to take us home. We had to bargain with a man in a van for the ride back to our hotel. We joked with each other about what our moms would think. They taught us never to take rides with strangers; yet, here we were riding with one for over an hour. He turned out to be an amiable and helpful driver who gave us a good tip about which train to take the next day.
Then, of course, there was the time in Xi’an when we couldn’t find a taxi anywhere (typical problem there) and had to take a ride with a rickshaw driver who thought he was a NASCAR driver. Then on top of it, he tried to take advantage of us on the price! So he and I got into an argument on the street, which then drew a crowd, and eventually Moe and I just walked off, paying him the originally agreed-upon amount.
Sometimes, these misadventures were frustrating, even a little scary, but in the end, they always taught us more about ourselves and our fellow humans. Perspective is all you need to change a misadventure to an adventure.
My friend Angela standing outside the Saint Sophia Cathedral.

Kindness of Strangers

Those two men, who gave us a ride in Harbin, were just a part of many acts of kindness I have been fortunate enough to receive during my travels. I was relieved and grateful for their generosity. I knew we had angels watching over us that day in Harbin. Otherwise, we might have become an ice festival exhibit, “ode to ignorant tourists.”
It is a reminder that we should practice kindness, no matter where we are. You never know what struggles a person might be dealing with–especially when they’re in an unfamiliar place. Your act of kindness might make all the difference. I know that was the case for Moe and me in Harbin. I’m glad those men thought I was Russian, and I’m happy I spoke up, even though it went against my usual inclinations.
I can say, looking back on my time in China, I experienced things I’d never experienced before. I did and said things I wouldn’t normally have back home. However, it was all part of the adventure (or often misadventure), and it changed me for the better. That’s what traveling does. It opens you up to new things, new people, and a new way of thinking. You grow and develop a better understanding of the world outside your comfort zone. I am better for having traveled.
China wasn’t the last of my misadventure fun with Angela, read Misadventures in Normandy France to learn more about our travels together.
Have an Adventure!

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April 4, 2020