Free Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex by Anne Frank Page A

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’s a simple act of kindness! If everyone were to give in this way and didn’t scrimp on kindly words, there would be much more love and justice in the world!
    Give and you shall receive, much more than you ever thought possible. Give and give again. Keep hoping, keep trying, keep giving! People who give will never be poor!
     
    If you follow this advice, within a few generations, people will never have to feel sorry for poor little beggar children again, because there won’t be any!
    The world has plenty of room, riches, money and beauty. God has created enough for each and every one of us. Let us begin by dividing it more fairly!
     
    Sunday, 26 March 1944
    * Based on one of Anne’s grandmother’s favourite sayings, which was often quoted by the Frank family: ‘People who give will never be poor.’

Why?
    E VER SINCE I was a little girl and could barely talk, the word ‘why’ has lived and grown along with me. It’s a well-known fact that children ask questions about anything and everything, since almost everything is new to them. That was especially true of me, and not just as a child. Even when I was older, I couldn’t stop asking questions. That wasn’t necessarily bad, and I must admit that my parents patiently answered my questions until…until I started pestering strangers too. Not all people can stand being bombarded with children’s questions.
    I have to admit that it can be annoying sometimes, but I comfort myself with the thought that ‘You won’t know until you ask,’ though by now I’ve asked so much that they ought to have made me a professor.
    When I grew older, I noticed that not all questions can be asked and that many whys can never be answered. As a result, I tried to work things out for myself by mulling over my own questions. And I came to the important discovery that questions which you either can’t orshouldn’t ask in public, or questions which you can’t put into words, can easily be solved in your own head. So the word ‘why’ not only taught me to ask, but also to think.
    And now for the second aspect of the word ‘why’. I believe that if everyone asked themselves ‘why?’ before they did something, they’d be much better persons, and also much more honest. The best way to become good and honest is never to pass up an opportunity for self-examination .
    The most cowardly thing a person can do is not admit to himself his own faults and shortcomings, which we all have. This applies to both children and adults, since in this respect they’re alike. Most people think that parents are supposed to educate their children and try to develop their characters to the best of their ability, but that’s not true.
    From an early age, children need to educate themselves and develop their own characters. A lot of people might think this sounds crazy, but it’s not. A child, no matter how young, is a person with a conscience of his own. Getting a child to realize that his own conscience punishes him far more severely is a large part of child-rearing .
    To fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds, any form of punishment is ridiculous, since at that age they know that no one, not even their own parents, can accomplish anything by punishing them, physically or otherwise. By reasoning with them and confronting them with their own behaviour you will achieve results faster than with the most severe of punishments.
    But I didn’t intend this to be a lecture on child-rearing.
    All I wanted to say was that in the lives of every child and adult, the word ‘why’ plays a significant role, as indeed it should.
    The saying ‘You won’t know until you ask’ is true to the extent that it gets people to think. And thinking has never hurt anyone. On the contrary, it does us all a world of