I have written about Writing Your Personal History but my thoughts here are taking a motivational approach. It is not because the things stated before, in other writings, are less important but because there are different ways that we are stimulated and/or motivated. We all seem to look at things a little differently. I rather doubt that there are very many youths who developed their very own plan or roadmap that was designed to take them through life with a particular goal or end in mind. Douglas Adams remarked historically that; “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” That sounds a little like the plan followed by Alice (in Wonderland) when meeting up with the Cheshire cat. Alice enquired as to ‘which way she should go from where she was.’ The Cheshire cat’s response was as follows: “Well, some go this way, some go that way. But as for me, myself, personally, I prefer the shortcut.” “But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” Persisting she asked; “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where –” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “So long as I get somewhere,” Alice explained. “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
There are many who would probably agree with the cat, that we must be mad or we wouldn’t be here, especially without a roadmap or a set of instructions telling us, ‘why we are here and where we should be going.’ Too, if we are not told, and do not know where we are going, like the cat said, “It really doesn’t matter which way we go.” That is why Douglas Adams remark (above) seems appropriate: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think (hope) I have ended up where I needed to be.” The truth is, however, that if we do not find and embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ while in life, we will not have the instructions, the ‘Plan’ that is necessary to know where we need to go and why. Too, those who have the Plan, as mature adults, do not always use it. We, like the cat said, will be somewhat mad, confused or unhinged and it won’t seem to matter, too much, which way we go while here, because sooner or later we will get there. Wherever ‘there’ may be.
Winston Churchill said, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” By writing our own, it will be more accurate and possibly more ‘kind’ than if another tries to write it for us after we are gone. It will be more complete and include more of our pitfalls and therefore be of more value to those coming after us.
An early leader of the church, Orson Hyde, expressed the value of our experiences in life, by stating; “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire.” Everything we do in life is experience, it is hard earned practice and can be instructional for others, as well. From the time we start walking or saying our first words … to one day being an adult craftsman or an administrator, etc. it is all mostly practice. Zig Ziglar said it best, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well.” Someone else voiced the same thought, just a little differently: “Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is, had to begin where he was.” However, instructions written and left by someone who has already struggled through it, makes their task easier. Everything we do seems to be practicing for something we have to do in the future. Those who are not willing to practice and those who give up too soon, are they who will go less far in life. The late, Wayne Dyer added, “Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose!” We all go down the paths that others may or may not have travelled. We will each travel those paths in our own way, but other’s instructions may help us to arrive at the endless hassled. We may or may not have learned to do everything right but it doesn’t matter whether we leave an example, good or bad, others may still learn from it.
In writing my own history, there were a few occasions where my ‘minds eye’ went back in time with me. I could actually see myself as the little boy or the young man doing the thing that I was describing in my history. However, I was the only one that could see that (mind’s eye) picture. So, where-ever we can insert an actual photograph of the event in history, that we are writing about, will make it a more real event or story for the reader. From the article: “Photographs and Stories Bring Family History to Life”, it was stated that: “Pictures and stories are the seeds from which our family histories grow. Family historians and genealogists love pictures because they add so much to the bare bones of dates, places and names.” Pictures and the stories that we write are what creates the bonds that tie generations together and help us to know and understand them. Knowing and understanding our ancestors causes us to love them. Family members who will take the time to read ancestral histories will have a head start in life and be blessed for doing so.
In, ‘A Story to Tell’, one of Mark Twain’s stories, tells of an artist, George Sterling, who finds most of humanity-other than himself-rather uninteresting. Self-absorbed in his own career and interests, he takes little notice of the people around him. But then George starts painting portraits of the very people he considers dull and commonplace. As his subjects gradually open up to him, he learns their stories, gets to know them from the inside, and comes to the realization that, “a person’s experiences of life are a book. There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.”
Sometimes, as the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. A rough exterior might just be hiding a loyal, tender heart. A shy or reserved demeanor often belies profound feelings and insightful perspectives on life. Every life story has its chapters of heartache and difficulty, along with moments of sheer joy and good humor. And the best part is, a new chapter is being written every day. Another has said; “Every word you speak lands on people like a seed and grows like a living piece of you. Whatever words you’ve been planting becomes your legacy, a legacy that is carried around by others in their hearts and minds”.
Physical attributes and blood type are automatically transmitted from one generation to the next, and that blood type will be the same as the previous generations but the stories will all be different. Our loves, knowledge, understanding and experiences have to be transmitted via histories. A story defines you by what you were or what you’ve done, what you’ve become. …Our stories are like fingerprints: each person has them, but there are no two fingerprints alike. They are all unique words and pictures. I really love the significance that LaRae Ker put on the importance of our personal history; “Write about your life, for the history of the world is not complete until it includes yours.”