thoughts on the news of the day: tell me a story

hmmm…..

            You may not think this is true, but we want to hear your story.  You say you don’t have a story?  I seriously doubt it.  Everyone has a story.  It could be argued that the story is not worth telling, but that is debatable.  And it is also up to the listener and not the teller to determine whether the story is valuable or not.

            Can you tell your story?  It’s a little intimidating, isn’t it?  You have to think about what it is you want to say in the first place.  How much would you want to disclose?  Would it hurt someone else’s feelings if you spoke your truth?   Recently I began to collect the stories of my congregation.  My folks are at the late dates of their lives.  If the stories are to be collected, now is the time.  We have fascinating stories in our congregation.  Fighter pilots flew the skies during World War II.  One woman gazed from the top floor of a building as Japanese planes flew over her head on their way to bomb Pearl Harbor.  Not everyone’s stories are so dramatic but they are worth the telling all the same.

            So what about you?  What are you willing to share with us?  Tell us about the birth of your first child … your wedding day… or the time that you first knew that your friend was your “best”.  Is there a first real accomplishment?  A first failure?

            You may not think you have a story; but you do.  You were born, you grew up, things happened.  And we want to hear about them ... really…. We do.

            hmmm…..

thoughts on the news of the day: the good ole days

hmmm…..

            Simulacra …. It’s a word you can wrap your tongue around.  Simulacra … not exactly Similac, that word that names the nasty formula babies are fed.  Simulacra is not exactly Lycra.  That’s the stuff that makes us well…. less fluffy.

            Simulacrum, the word, was first used in the 16^th century. It meant likeness or representation – like the likeness of a god in statuary or other medium.  Philosophically it has come to mean a distortion to intentionally make a copy appear correct to viewers.  So, the idea from there is that in remembering “the good old days” we distort how they really were.  We perform simulacra. We do this a lot, especially as we get older. 

            We long for something that probably is more legend or myth.  We have this idea that people used to sit on their front porches every evening; when in reality, most folks were still doing dishes or folding laundry or taking their evening bath so they could get up at the crack of dawn the next day, bone tired, to go to the work they did to make a living for their family. 

            We do that with technology.  We long for the good old days when families used to gather around the dinner table and have conversation together.  Really?  Is that what really happened? Or was it more like adults sparing in debate over their close minded opinions and children being “seen but not heard.”

            OK, so I know I am being a little harsh here.  There are many good things to remember about days gone by. And there are things we wish we had now that we don’t.  But next time you say “I remember when,” think about it.  Is it the way it really was, or is it the way you wish it always was; the way you wish it is now …

            hmmm…..