A few years ago, Tom and I took a friend to Chaco, a National Historical Park in New Mexico that features miles of intact, ancestral-Puebloan buildings.
"...he tells his story in images." A reminder for each of us, right? To tell the stories we can for as long as necessary. To weave together what it means to be here now with the same wonderment of what happens next. To keep the history as a reminder, not a forgotten relic.
I love the final summarisation you make here Sarah, " “I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” and so they paint, or write, recording their experiences and signing the result with a handprint or a signature: I was here, I lived."
Whether we live small private lives, or are hounded by journalists and paparazzi, whether we are a poor hungry tribe or aristocrats we are important and as such any written words describing those lives is equally so. We were here, we lived like this...
Exactly, Susie. We're all important and in ways that we may not realize. I'm 100% sure that whoever painted the pictograph didn't know what seeing it would mean to me almost 1000 years later. We all have a ripple effect.
And that’s why we write…”I was here, I lived…” At least that’s one reason that I write. That, and as you also say here, to be connected to the world around us. I love this piece, Sarah!
Thank you, Nicole. I often write to figure things out, and in this case, I realized I was writing to do exactly what you said - to acknowledge not only my experience but my existence.
Your observation/sentiment feels especially important in this moment, Sarah. Perhaps we should all be writing about our lives, our fears, our personal reflections on and responses to the political and social goings on, as a way to give voice to our time, help future humans understand a perspective outside of/adjacent to the stories they will read in the history books.
This is an excellent point, Annie. At its heart, history is a story of what happened. If we don't tell our own stories, then all that's left is an "official" version of events, often minus the human side of an experience.
"...he tells his story in images." A reminder for each of us, right? To tell the stories we can for as long as necessary. To weave together what it means to be here now with the same wonderment of what happens next. To keep the history as a reminder, not a forgotten relic.
Yes! To weave our experience together in any way we can - words, images, past, present - as long as we tell our stories.
I love the final summarisation you make here Sarah, " “I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” and so they paint, or write, recording their experiences and signing the result with a handprint or a signature: I was here, I lived."
Whether we live small private lives, or are hounded by journalists and paparazzi, whether we are a poor hungry tribe or aristocrats we are important and as such any written words describing those lives is equally so. We were here, we lived like this...
Thank you so much for sharing. 🙏🏼
Exactly, Susie. We're all important and in ways that we may not realize. I'm 100% sure that whoever painted the pictograph didn't know what seeing it would mean to me almost 1000 years later. We all have a ripple effect.
If only more of us realised the ripple effect we might just be all walking the same path too!
And that’s why we write…”I was here, I lived…” At least that’s one reason that I write. That, and as you also say here, to be connected to the world around us. I love this piece, Sarah!
Thank you, Nicole. I often write to figure things out, and in this case, I realized I was writing to do exactly what you said - to acknowledge not only my experience but my existence.
Your observation/sentiment feels especially important in this moment, Sarah. Perhaps we should all be writing about our lives, our fears, our personal reflections on and responses to the political and social goings on, as a way to give voice to our time, help future humans understand a perspective outside of/adjacent to the stories they will read in the history books.
This is an excellent point, Annie. At its heart, history is a story of what happened. If we don't tell our own stories, then all that's left is an "official" version of events, often minus the human side of an experience.