KINDNESS Ripples

Helpers

When Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands in 1940, persecution of Jews spilled over to Amsterdam. Otto Frank, a Jewish German businessman, and his family were forced to hide in a secret annex of his o ce.

His two secretaries, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, along with a few other helpers, supplied the people in hiding with necessities and news from the outside. Miep and Bep became close friends with the Franks, especially the young girl Anne.

When the family was arrested, Miep kept Anne’s diary in hopes of returning it to her one day. Bep also saved loose pages, photos, and other documents. Anne, however, didn’t survive. Miep later gave the diary to Otto, the sole member of his family to survive the Holocaust, and the journal was eventually published as The Diary of Anne Frank.—www. historyextra.com

Martyrs

In 2011, a group of more than 200 elderly Japanese volunteered to assist with the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Naming themselves the Skilled Veterans Corps, these retired engineers and professionals over the age of 60 reasoned that it was better to let them face the dangers of radiation instead of risking the young.

Their example of self-sacri ce inspired the world.—www.beliefnet.com

Adviser

Adolf Hitler considered the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games an opportunity to showcase Aryan supremacy, but Jesse Owens, an African-American, won gold in several track-and- eld events. For the long jump, however, Owens had been committing fouls while up against Luz Long, the German athlete and European record holder.

According to some accounts, Long advised Owens on a technique to avoid fouls. Owens succeeded and went on to win gold, while Long won silver. At the end of the nals, both hugged in front of Hitler.

In a nal letter before he died during World War II, Long wrote to Owens, “Someday nd my son . . . tell him about how things can be between men on this Earth.”—npr.org

Matchmaker

Anthony Nolan was born with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a rare condition for which the only cure is a bone marrow transplant. There was no match in his family, and though they tried to search for an unrelated matching donor, they never found one.

In 1974, Anthony’s mother, Shirley, founded the Anthony Nolan Registry (now Anthony Nolan Trust), a charity that manages and recruits donors to make it easier to nd a match for patients needing bone marrow transplants.—www.anthonynolan.org

By Aimee Grace B. Tapeceria