RIP, Miep Gies

Miep Gies - one of the people who helped hide the Frank family during WWII - has died, at 100.

I remember reading a (probably abridged) version of Anne Frank's Diary as a schoolgirl. I remember being sad and horrified that such a thing would happen to people, simply because some "leader" said that they were different and wrong.

And I remember being angry - angry that people like Miep Gies would have to put their own lives in danger, because what was going on in the world around them so contrasted with the values they held. And I always wondered: If it were me, would I be brave enough to hide people? Would I be brave enough to keep bringing food and supplies, knowing each time I did, I was risking my own life?

I honestly don't know. I'd like to think I WOULD be brave enough to say "Damn the risk, I'm doing what's right" and go on and do it.

I hope no one ever has to face that choice again. (But knowing this bad old world, they probably will - heck, there are probably people in Iran or China or South America facing similar choices under different situations, humans' hatred of people who are "different" being what it is).

I'm glad, though, that she wasn't caught. And that she preserved the diary. And that she had a long - and I hope, peaceful, life afterwards. (I hope she had a peaceful life and took some comfort in that she had done the right thing, even if the residents of the Attic were ultimately captured)