KEEPING A DIARY
By: S.H.I

Some of us write in our diary every day. Some of us don’t even have a diary. Those who don’t will never know the pleasure of keeping a diary.
A diary is a record of events and activities. Some diaries become world famous. Two have even become classics. One is the diary of Samuel Pepys, written over ten years in the seventeenth century. His diary is famous because he wrote very accurate and detailed accounts of activities and events. As such we know many details of the Great Fire of London that destroyed the city and the Great Plague which killed thousands of people. Samuel Pepys even wrote that he went to watch the fire burning! His original diaries are still kept Cambridge University where he studied.
The other famous diary is the diary of Anne Frank, written from 1942-1944. Anne Frank was thirteen when she first began to write her diary. The family hid from the Nazis in an apartment in Amsterdam as they were Jewish. Nobody knew they were there except for a few trusted friends. Anne wrote of her daily activities, her confusion over why the Nazis hated them, her dreams, her crush on a boy and her clashes with her mother. The diary has been translated into over sixty languages. It is one of the most painful and moving dairies ever written especially when we know Anne died in a concentration camp.
For diarists, a diary is a journal of records. It records our activities, events in our lives, feelings, hopes, dreams, fear and problems. It is usually very personal. A diary gives us an outlet for all our emotions. In this sense, it is an important document. Without a diary to write it all down, our emotions will boil within us. However, once we write everything down, we feel released and free. When our emotions are down in black and white we begin to see them objectively and rationally. This helps us to deal with them sensibly. So, diaries help us to handle our emotions.
Usually, diaries are meant to be private because they are very personal. People keep their diaries in safe places, usually under lock and key because they don’t want anyone to read them. However, things are different now, thanks to the internet .Nowadays; many people write on ‘blog’ their diaries on the Internet. They write about their feelings on issues. They write very personal things and that pos them on their blogs for other s to read and comment on them. How time have changed!
As personal records, diaries are important. They help in our emotional development. We are usually very honest when writing a diary. All diaries should be kept always. Years later, when we read our earlier diaries, we begin to understand things about ourselves. In fact, reading an old diary is like taking a journey into the past. It is always enjoyable and sometimes a little embarrassing. So, never destroy old diaries. Keep them. Who knows, one day they might get published just like diaries of Samuel Pepys and Anne Frank.