“Memories
are the key – not to the past, but to the future.”
– Corrie ten Boom
Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom,
both born and died on this date (1892 and 1983, respectively), was one of the many thousands of ordinary
people in World War II who risked their lives to save those who were being
hunted by the Nazis as part of what would become known as the Holocaust.
Captured and imprisoned for her
actions, she survived the war to write about the experience in The Hiding Place. It was one of many books she wrote while following her own advice to “remember things from the past in
order to help shape the future” – a mandate for all who choose a life of
writing and communication.
Corrie ten Boom
Also acclaimed for her work on behalf many other causes, she founded a church to serve those with mental
disabilities and became a champion for foster children.
During her final year of life, she reflected on how she could have been killed
or died at a much younger age and about the urgency she always felt to “do things for
others.” She said simply, “The measure
of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.”
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