The Quiet One

I had a thought the other day as I was studying my "Diary of Anne Frank" script: Margot is like a seashell.

A younger Margot (I'm guessing around 12-13)

The more I study Margot and her personality, the more I see her reserved kindness and strength. Yet at times she broke down emotionally, she yelled, she was overcome with  the situation. Who wouldn't be?

Most of the time though, she was silent, quiet. Kind of like a seashell sitting on a table, until you walk over to it and very carefully place it over your ear... And listen. If you listen very intently, you might be able to hear the ocean.

This, to me, is Margot. A calm, polite and mature exterior (especially for being sweet sixteen), always helpful and never demanding anything for herself. The first one to give a compliment or encouraging word to those around her. And yet, beneath that smile and those big brown eyes, there is a veritable ocean of depth and intensity that only those who really search will find. Margot was on a fast track to what would have been a European Ivy League school and probably would have aced every class. And then gone on to change the world. This was one brilliant young woman. She was political, athletic, strong willed and confident.

Because the diary was Anne's, she is the most well known of the Annexe dwellers. Yet right next to her sat Margot, reading and dreaming and planning, and I think, praying. She dealt with the others in way that made her, in my opinion, the unofficial Annexe healer and helper (much like her father Otto) and dreamt of moving far away to become a nurse for children. The first one to get "called up," I am almost sure she dealt with more guilt than most people ever do in their lifetimes (because of her call up to work camp, the Frank family was forced to go into hiding).

Next time you see a quiet person, think twice before you label them as "shy" or "socially awkward." They might have more going on under the surface than you could ever imagine.