It’s funny how people we think of as being from very different eras, can actually be from the same era. That’s because we view then from the window of accomplishments, martyrdoms, or heroics, rather than looking at the era they were actually born to. In the case of Martin Luther King Jr and Anne Frank, we view her as the Holocaust years from the opening of Dachau on March 22, 1933, to the end of her short life in February or March of 1945 in Bergen-Belsen. On the other hand, we view Martin Luther King Jr from the window of the Civil Rights Movement, of which he was leader from 1955 until his assassination on April 4, 1968. Their most recognized years seem to have nothing to do with each other, but the fact is that Martin Luther King Jr was born on January 15, 1929, and Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929. These were two people from the exact same era, in fact, he was just five months older that she was.
Their lives were equally valuable, even though their causes and their situations were very different. What they had very much in common was that they were both persecuted people, and all based on their race. I don’t understand why people act that way. Would we really want everyone on Earth to be the same. Our differences are really our strengths. Nevertheless, from the dawn of time to present day, we feel the need and even the right to condemn, hate, bully, and even kill people who think differently, believe differently, and even look different than we do. People consider it their right, even though it is absolutely not their right. God created all men to be equal, and we should not try to change that.
Martin Luther King Jr tried to change the irrational views of a nation and yes, the world to understand that skin
color has nothing to do with a person’s value, knowledge, or goodness. It’s what a person does with their life, and not how they come into it that matters. Anne Frank never really had a chance to “say” anything to that world in her lifetime. Nevertheless, in her diary, she told the world the truth of what happened to her and her family. Her voice was not silenced, as the Nazis would have liked it to be. While Anne Frank did not survive her time in Bergen-Belsen, dying just days before the camp was liberated, her diary did survive, and while her dad, who also survived didn’t really want to have his daughter’s diary published because of the painful content, he knew it was the right thing to do, so he let her story be told.
Martin Luther King Jr and Anne Frank died in different ways and at different times, but their stories have carried on for years to show the devastating effects of hatred against different races, creeds, and religions. I can’t say we as a nation have learned the lessons that their stories teach, but we certainly should have.


Leave a Reply