Heart Summer

Traveling over Thanksgiving, Linton and I tuned into BBC radio and heard an interview with the world's oldest Holocaust survivor. Alice Hertz-Sommer is the second oldest person living in London, England. She was a renowned concert pianist and a close friend of Franz Kafka. She has seen and lived through more than you can imagine. And, despite all she’s experienced, her extraordinary optimism and attitude is what stands out the most.

She has said: “I have lived through many wars and have lost everything many times – including my husband, my mother and my beloved son. Yet, life is beautiful, and I have so much to learn and enjoy. I have no space nor time for pessimism and hate.”

The conversation with Hertz-Sommer and her attitude to life was simply powerful. Increasingly, I read about and listen to such extreme beliefs about everything, but here is this woman, who has every reason to hate, to have given up – or at the very least, refuse to be interviewed – was telling us a different story. Even though, as she freely admits, her piano playing is not what it used to be, it is beautiful and her story is inspirational.

In German, her name means “heart-summer.” No coincidence?

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Pocket Change is a web diary written by Jane Moulding, head of school.