Chapter 54: Finding Life Beautiful in Hard Days

The Words: Etty Hillesum, 1942

In the summer of 1942, a young woman named Etty Hillesum wrote in her diary, in Dutch, words that are both simple and astonishing. Again and again, in different ways, she wrote that she still found life beautiful and full of meaning. In my own words: even now, in these days, life is beautiful and meaningful to me. In one passage she wrote about the jasmine behind the house where she lived. Days of rain and storm had battered it, and yet, she said, it went on blossoming inside her, as lovely as ever. She wrote these pages at one of the darkest times of the century.

The Life Behind the Words

Etty Hillesum was born in 1914. She studied law, and later she studied languages and gave lessons in Russian. She was lively, curious and full of questions about love, work and the meaning of life. In 1941 she began to keep a diary, and it became a record of her inner life. She read the poems of Rilke and other writers, and she learned to sit quietly with her own thoughts. Over the months, the diary shows a person growing calmer, wiser and more loving.

Those months were a time of war, when Jewish people like her and her family were being pushed out of ordinary life and taken away. Etty saw clearly what was happening. She did not pretend that things were fine. For a time she also worked among people who were waiting in a camp to be sent away, trying to help them. In 1943 she herself was sent away to a camp, where she died that same year, at twenty-nine. Her diaries and letters were published many years later, and readers everywhere have been moved by them.

What the Words Ask of Us

Etty's words are not a denial of suffering. She knew the danger she was in. What she found was that the beauty of life did not depend on safety or comfort. It could still be seen in the sky, in a flower, in a friend's face, in a moment of quiet. Her words ask us to look for meaning and beauty even when circumstances are hard, not as an escape, but as a way of staying fully human. They also show that the inner life can stay free and alive when outer life is very narrow.

Think of Ruth, who is sixty and has spent a long, hard year caring for her husband after an operation. Some weeks felt endless. Yet when she thinks back, she remembers small bright things: the evening light on the kitchen wall, his laugh at an old joke, a neighbour who left soup at the door. These moments did not remove the difficulty, but they were real. Ruth realises that she has found, in her own way, what Etty found: life can be hard and beautiful at the same time.

Similar Words From Around the World

Yoshida Kenkō, who wrote in Japanese in the 1300s, asks in Essays in Idleness, section 137: are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, and at the moon only when the sky is cloudless? Kenkō means that there is beauty in blossoms that have fallen and in a moon half hidden by clouds. Etty saw beauty in a jasmine broken by the rain. Both teach that beauty is not only for perfect days. It can be found in every season, if our eyes are open.

A traditional saying in Arabic says that patience is the key to relief. Etty did not see relief in her own lifetime, and it would not be honest to pretend otherwise. Yet the saying still speaks to her diary. Her patience was not only waiting for better days; it was a way of living each day fully and calmly. In that sense, her patience opened a door inside her, to peace and meaning, even when the outer door stayed closed. The saying and the diary together show that patience can be a form of strength.

Living It Today

Few of us will face what Etty faced. But every life has hard seasons: illness, loss, loneliness, worry about money or work. In such times, it is easy to believe that beauty must wait until the trouble is over. Etty's words suggest that we do not have to wait. A student going through a difficult year, a worker under heavy pressure, a person who is grieving, and an older reader with failing health can all look for one beautiful thing each day.

This week, each evening, write down one beautiful thing you saw or felt that day, even if the day was difficult. It might be a colour in the sky, a kind word, a song, or a moment of peace. Keep the list, and read it when you feel low. Etty Hillesum did not choose her times, but she chose how to see them. Her diary still tells us, across many years, that life can be beautiful and meaningful, even in hard days.

Chapter 55: Thinking of Those Who Come After Us

The Words: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1942

At the end of 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote an essay in German called "After Ten Years". He gave it at the turn of the year as a gift to a few close friends and family members, looking back on ten hard years they had lived through together. In it, he asks what has helped people stay upright in such a time. One sentence has become especially well known. In my own words: for a responsible person, the final question is not how to come out of a hard situation heroically oneself, but how the coming generation is to live.

The Life Behind the Words

Bonhoeffer was born in 1906. He became a pastor, a minister who leads a Christian community, and a theologian, someone who studies and teaches about God and faith. He taught young people preparing to become pastors, and he wrote books about faith and about living together in community. For him, faith was not only something to believe; it had to be lived, in how one treats other people, especially the weak.

Because he stood against the injustice and cruelty of his time, he was in danger for years. He was arrested in 1943, and he lost his life in April 1945, a few weeks before the war ended in Europe. While in prison, he wrote letters and poems that were later published and are still read by many people. "After Ten Years" was written a few months before his arrest. It looks honestly at fear, failure and courage, and it also contains great hope. Bonhoeffer wrote that optimism, as a will for the future, is a power of hope where others give up, and should never be despised, even if it is wrong many times. He added that the Last Day, the end of the world in Christian belief, might come tomorrow; then he and his friends would gladly lay down their work for a better future, but not before.

What the Words Ask of Us

The question Bonhoeffer asks moves our attention from ourselves to others, and especially to those who are not yet born or are still young. When we face a difficult choice, it is natural to ask, "How can I come out of this well?" Bonhoeffer does not say that this question is wrong, but he says it is not the final one. The deeper question is what kind of world our choices will leave behind. It is a generous and hopeful way of thinking, because it treats the future as something worth caring for.

Think of Idris, who is thirty-five and works as a builder. A customer wants him to use cheaper materials that would save money now but would not last. Idris thinks of the children who might live in that house in twenty years. He explains this kindly to the customer and offers a better plan at a fair price. The work takes a little longer, and his profit is a little smaller. But the house will stand. Idris has asked Bonhoeffer's question in his own daily work.

Similar Words From Around the World

Sankofa is a traditional idea of the Akan people of West Africa. It is often shown as a bird that turns its head to look back, and it teaches that it is not wrong to go back and fetch what you have left behind; we learn from the past in order to go forward. "After Ten Years" is a kind of Sankofa. Bonhoeffer looks back over a decade, not to complain, but to learn what will help the next generation. Looking back and looking forward, both teachings say, belong together.

The Tirukkural, a book of couplets in Tamil traditionally credited to Thiruvalluvar, says in couplet 314 that the way to correct those who harm you is to do them good, so that they feel ashamed. Bonhoeffer lived among people who did great harm, and his essay is not soft about wrongdoing. But he did not want hatred to shape the future. The couplet and the essay both point to a way of acting that is responsible without being bitter, and that hopes to leave the world better rather than only win a fight.

Living It Today

Bonhoeffer's question can guide many everyday choices. A parent can ask how today's words and habits will shape a child in ten years. A teacher can think of the adults her students will become. A worker can ask whether a decision will help or harm the people who come after. An older reader can think about what they would like to pass on: a skill, a story, a kindness, a planted tree. Each of us is part of a long chain of generations.

This week, make one choice with the coming generation in mind. You might teach a young person something you know, write down a family story, waste a little less, or support a project that will help people in the future. It does not have to be large. Bonhoeffer wrote his words in a very dark time, yet they are full of trust in tomorrow. When we ask how those after us will live, we are already helping to light their road.