After we finished reading The Hiding Place, I asked the students to write about the lessons that they carried away from the book. Everyone did a wonderful job with this assignment, and I would like to share a paper that struck me as particularly insightful. This paper is by a student who often questions the Christian belief system at Flint Academy:
IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM THE HIDING PLACE
"I will admit that at the beginning of this book I found both Corrie and Betsie to be your typical sheltered religious fanatics. However as the story progressed I learned to respect them. Even from my agnostic point of view I could easily respect them for their undying loyalty to their faith. I also learned to respect them for being so kind and righteous.
I have no trouble admitting that I could never have done half of the things they did. I'm selfish, I'm aggressive, and even at times cold hearted. Never in my whole life could I have not only forgiven the Nazis, but actually have the desire to heal my own tormentors.
The thing that I have learned is to forgive and have the desire to do so as well. The fact that people can be like this shocked me to no end.
I'm a pessimist by nature; very rarely do I have a positive view on the world. And like every other pessimist, once I am proven wrong I'm happy. They showed me that the world can be a wonderful place, no matter how much evil there is.
I couldn't believe that all this good happened in such an evil place. Yet why would she lie? That thought was what sparked the entire realization that they truly were saintly people."
To compliment our study of The Hiding Place, the upper school went on a field trip this week to the Dallas Holocaust Museum. The students were very interested in all of the information presented there and I was proud of their behavior. The museum staff told Dr. Flint that we were one of the best-behaved and engaged groups that has been there in a long time!
