Anne Frank once said, “In spite of everything I still believe that people are still good at heart.” I believe this is true because there is that little spot in people that makes them compassionate, loving, and caring. This little spot is in there despite the tough times. One of those tough times for me was when I moved churches and I felt that everyone, including my parents, had abandoned me. I was stubborn and moody for a long time but time went on and I slowly grew in confidence to the person I am today, knowing that tough times can be beneficial.


I had grown up in this church for my whole life. I knew every person there, I went to Sunday School like every good boy did, I sung songs during worship, But most of all I spent time with my best friend Caleb. Because I had grown up in this small Church, I had developed many relationships and connections with the people and environment there. I was really shocked when my Mom and Dad said that we were moving churches. All of a sudden, I had lost all the relationships I had made, all the people that I had met, and the place I had grown to know and love. I now realize that I had also lost my security as well. After I had left the church, I was extremely moody and aggressive. I think this is a lot like Anne Frank being in Amsterdam and having a fun and jolly time and then, all of a sudden she is jerked from the world that she knew and understood to the old, dusty, and extremely tiny Secret Annex. I’m surprised that she took it as well as she did! She makes me fell ashamed of myself for the way I acted after we moved.


After we left, I would sob all the time and desperately try to revisit and cling to old relationships. We went to church after church and I hated them all because I didn’t want to leave what I had felt so comfortable with. I was way more aggressive and got into lots of petty fights at school. It was a hard year because I pushed away all relationships that were trying to open themselves to me hoping that I could restore the ones that I already had. We were constantly moving churches and I was rejecting every single one of them. One by one, church after church I rejected them. My attitude was also affecting my grades in school, Instead of getting A’s, I was starting to get B’s and a couple C’s. This happened for almost a year and a half until we started to go to this one church. Anne Frank had a similar experience in the annex when for almost a whole year; there were always petty fights and arguing. This started to beat her down and she got more and more moody just like me. Anne and I have a lot of Similarities now that I realize, just like how things got relatively better.


The turning point in my life really happened when my parents agreed that they liked that church and started to go there which happened to affect me too. At first, all I did was sit in the adult service and be bored all the time. The pastor would crack a nice joke every once and a while but other than that It was just plain bland. A little later, I found the courage to go to the youth service and I kind of liked it. The head youth pastor was really tried to help me fit in and be loved. I had only gone to one youth service, which happened to be the one right before winter camp. Since I had that irresistible desire to fit in after having gone so long without relationship, I said “What the heck, I’ll just go.” That Winter Camp changed me dramatically and suddenly I started to look up and see the sunshine. Anne did the same thing through her writing but with a more gradual slope. She started to learn more and more, become more civilized the whole time. She went from not caring about what her mom cared about her to seeing what she had done to people and realizing how she acted around others. She showed maturity just like I showed maturity in having the courage to start anew somewhere and letting go of my sins and cruddy feelings. We both started to have better attitudes and see how we were becoming better people.

I see lots of things that came out of my new relationships and the new person that I saw myself as. One of these things was all the physical things that happened. I listened more to the people around me and worked harder at the things that I did like Swim Team. I was doing better in school than I had ever done before, and I was fitting in well in the new middle school environment. I was also affected emotionally. I had gained now patience in myself because I realized that things get better. I gained strength through overcoming the challenged that I face. Lastly, I found courage. Courage helped me reach out to new people and new ideas. Things were starting to look good and full of hope. I felt that I was truly happy and confident in myself. I’m still confident in myself especially the tasks that I’m able to complete and the challenges that I have overcome like changing churches. Anne Frank had journey way more important than mine though. She wanted to become a famous writer and she achieved her dream. It may not have been the way that she expected or preferred, but God has a plan for everyone. It was because of her death and her sacrifice that made her strong and able to inspire other people to overcome tough times and hard challenges. It’s because of Anne Frank that I realize how lucky I am to not have to face such hard times and be grateful of what I have.


“In spite of everything I still believe people have a good heart,” Is a great quote because it’s a great summery that even though hard times come at you like boulders, for example, moving churches, being hunted by Nazi’s, or dealing with friends and family, you can still come out strong and motivate a great deal of people to change and reflect on their past challenges. Things like that lead to a better life, and a better life leads to a better world.