OPEN LETTERS
An Open Letter to My Mother
To her 13-year-old self
Dear Hanna,
You have no idea where you’re going. You’ve just survived WWII, but your life is about to change yet again. I can only imagine what you’ve gone through because you keep it in when you become an adult.
I know it’s out of pain, but oh how I wish you would have, could have shared more. The greatest gift you could have shared with the future is your past.
You don’t know them yet, but please teach your children to speak German. Make it a point for them to learn your mother tongue. There’s no shame in your native language. Did you know that many can learn to speak another language, but few can read and write it also?
You will teach yourself to read and write in English, and your children will constantly question your Hungarian handwriting. After you’re gone, they’ll hang on to every piece of your handwriting and treasure the difference. Please forgive them in advance for their arrogance because they’ll love you not only for the rest of your life but the rest of theirs as well.
You will always question how anyone can grow up not learning to read or write. You’ll finish the eighth grade and then go to work in a scarf factory to help support your family in a new country.
