Do you maintain a diary? Or did u ever maintain one? Well, I used to do since high schools until college. Now I do not remember when was the last I ever wrote because I have completely lost the habit. It is said that writing diaries and maintaining one is a good habit. Perhaps I have turned from a good to a bad kid now because I do not write though I claim writing to be a passion of mine.
My earliest memory of writing a diary was at the age of 13 when I was away at boarding school. There were several factors that attributed to my habit of writing a diary. A young girl just into her teens and away from home was one significant factor that made me to pour out my feelings to someone when homesick and penning down those feelings in something I considered somebody (diary) was the only solace I had then.
Moreover, I was shy as a kid and opening up was my greatest fear. So whatever I wanted to speak up and felt about somebody was always penned down. Basically, my pages of the diary used to be about what I did the whole day, who I met, how I felt and some feelings of the crushes I used to have. :)
Interestingly, The Diary of Anne Frank is highly acknowledged for the quality of her writing. Her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films. Call it a coincidence; Anne Frank also started writing her diary on her 13th birthday. Here is an excerpt from her diary.
Wednesday, 5 April 1944:
“I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me!
When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?”
That is so true. Writing means immortality. Even after your death, your writing will live and the world will remember you just as we do for Anne Frank today. For two years since 6 July 1942 till 4 August 1944, Anne records about everything in her diary. The people they have lived within the secret annex for two goddamn years, completely shut out from the outside world are so immaculately described that it’s like you have lived with them in the hiding all those years.
The Diary of Anne Frank was published posthumously, when Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father survived the war and found his daughter’s memoirs in her diary. Knowing that Anne always wanted to become a writer, he edited the diary by giving pseudonyms and sent it for publication. It was positively received and became a huge success. Anne Frank, a 13 year old girl’s dream of living even after her death has come to live. So will be yours and mine as long as we keep on writing and blogging. Someday, my grand child would be able to access this blog hopefully and see the world through the eyes of mine some generations back. That’s how I hope to overrule immortality lol.
Some good years back, I encouraged someone special in my life to write and he wrote vigorously in his diary since then. Few of my New Year gifts to him used to be a diary. Hopefully, he blossomed into a prolific writer now. And I am glad about it today. And I am sure that he has not left that gift of writing his diary unlike me:(.
So what are you thinking then? Tell me about your earliest memory of writing if you have one, it need not necessarily be writing a diary.
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