Another two for one

That time of the month has rolled around again where I should write a book review. I don’t think I will ever get the hang of this. I sit here staring at the book I finished reading last week, and even though I liked it, I can’t think of a thing to say. So I turn my attention to the book I finished reading just before that one and still my mind is a blank. Some things I guess a person simply does not have a gift for doing. Give me two yards of fabric and I can cut it into pieces and sew you a scrub top. Give me a book, I can read it, but that’s all I can do with it. Seems a waste. I should be able to finish the job by writing a review of it. I will try this again.

In the last two weeks I finished reading “A Beggars Purse” by Toni Nelson and “TheSecret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister”. Both are memoirs, both set in very different times and very different places, yet their messages fall upon the same path.  

Toni Nelson wrote about her life as a child, befriending hobos who would come to her grandmother’s house in search of a meal. As an adult, it wasn’t as easy for her to accept the homeless, but with time and the Lord’s guidance, she did, offering a meal to anyone who asked.

Nonna Bannister’s childhood was filled with relatives gathering for meals, but those happy times would soon end as Nazi Germany began pushing into her world. Some days she would be the one looking for a meal from anyone who had anything to offer.  

Both books remind me of the good and the bad sides of people. We are capable of causing great suffering, but we are equally able to share all that we have, our food, our shelters, our compassion. Our stories. I believe the authors of both of these books would want us to cultivate our good sides, would want us to learn from the mistakes of others, would want us to help any brother or sister in need. 

In the words of Anne Frank, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good at heart.”