History - our personal stories

Just finished, Listening Is an Act of Love … a celebration of American life from the StoryCorps Project, edited and with an introduction by Dave Isay. I have been listening and enjoying to StoryCorps’ stories for sometime now. They are a regular Friday feature on Morning Edition, National Public Radio (NPR). To discover that there is a written collection of some of these personal stories of fellow Americans was a great discovery … an added bonus.

Dave Isay is the founder of StoryCorps. In the last chapter he tells the story behind the founding of this special project of collecting and preserving an audio history of people. As he states on page 269: “These stories are a record of our shared humanity. Hearing them, it becomes clear that no matter who we are or where we come from, there is much more in common that we share than that divides us. These stories are a reminder that if we spent a little less time listening to the racket of divisive radio and TV talk shows and a little more time listening to each other, we would be a better, more thoughtful, and more compassionate nation.”

My first introduction to Oral History was when I moved to St. Petersburg and our beloved nation was preparing for the Bicentennial. The city had started recording and preserving the stories of those who were alive 100 years ago … stories of participating in WWI and WWII; stories of women’s fight to gain the right to vote; stories of growing up in the south as a slave; stories of the Great Depression; stories of the Great Dust Bowl; stories of human life being lived out across the country … stories of struggle and triumph … your stories and mine.

Last Sunday I was speaking with a young mother who shared, with amazement, the fact that one of her children spoke of a memory that he was too young to really remember … after all he “was only 1 at the time.” It gave me the opportunity to speak about a thing that I call, “Rehearsed memory.” It is probably one of the best gifts that we can give to our children.

Rehearsed memory is when, as parents or grandparents, we tell and retell the stories of our lives so often that the children who hear them begin to tell them in the first person … they become their stories … they can retell them over and over as if they actually do remember being there and having those experiences. It is our Oral History at its best and it is being preserved in their minds for the next generation.

On more than one occasion I have encouraged shut-ins to pick up a tape recorder and simply start to tell their future great-grandchildren about their life, who they are and the rich experiences that they have had. I’m not sure if any have followed my advice … I am sure not many, but isn’t it sad to think that these great men and women, with a vast amount of knowledge and history are just taking it to their graves.

Maybe, just maybe that is one of the hidden reasons that I started to blog, other than my youngest daughter pushing me to do this, so there would be a printed copy of my thoughts to be shared with my grandchildren and any children that shall come forth from them. I too need to record some of my stories so that when I have passed from this mortal coil my precious Ava and Eli … and maybe others … will be able to hear my voice telling my personal journey from Ohio to Miami and then all over Florida. I do know that there are some of my favorite jokes that the girls would like for me to record for them, as well as my Indian story of looking out for the lost son, Falling Rock, of a great chief of a mountain tribe.

I need to do that don’t I … and possibly so should you.

Quote for today: History is the record of an encounter between character and circumstance. Donald Creighton