A few years ago, I discovered a book in my basement that I had seen before, but never actually read. It was a personal history of some of my Great Grandparents on my dad's side.
I never really knew them too well while they were alive; I remember going over to their house, somewhere in the Salt Lake Valley. I remember that Great-Grandpa was always in a wheelchair whenever we visited, and that Great Grandma would have some kind of cookies and ginger ale for us kids. I mostly just remember the adults all talking, and me not really understanding what was going on.
I quickly learned that there was much more to them than that.
One of the first things I saw in the book were newspaper clippings of Great Grandpa, saved and copied from years and years ago, that showed him as football and basketball star on his high school and college teams. I had never expected that of him; all I'd ever known was the old man in the wheelchair.
Later I learned even more, and from a very different source; discussing his Grandparents, my Dad told me and my siblings several stories over the years. The most entertaining was probably when Great Grandpa first had to use his motorized wheelchair - he was so excited to be mobile again that he took off down the street at full speed, sending his family running to catch up. In contrast, the most touching story was how, even until their deaths, both Great Grandma and Great Grandpa always kept a current temple recommend, even when both of them were far from being able to leave the house. They knew the importance of being worthy to go to the temple, and they were always faithful in that.
All of this made me reconsider what I knew about them - they had personalities, lives they had lived, trials they had faced and overcome, goals they had pursued, people they loved. They had their own stories.
To me it emphasized the fact that, whatever we might think we know about people, or even about things, there is always more to learn, and more ways to learn it. The same events, told by a parent and then by a child, may each time show a different yet true perspective. The same events, shared verbally or written in a book, will certainly show differences, yet something can be gained from each. The background of my reading in their personal histories gave me a better insight into the stories my Dad told us, because I already had learned something about the people. In turn, the stories showed different aspects to their lives, ones that they might not have thought or chosen to write about themselves.
In short, there was, and still is, always more to find out, and many new or different ways to do it.
Thanks for your post Sam. There is a definite medium between oral history and written history that can be found to be the most accurate. I had a similar experience with finding my brother's diary while he was on his mission. I, like you, thought I knew my loved one's personality fairly well. I was humbled by reading his own description of our family and most importantly of his little brother: me. This example is a little different from your grandfather's book as my brother's diary was a first person description rather than stories of someone written by another. But regardless of this difference, I think both examples speak to the importance of realizing you don't truly know someone by just examining them from one or even two perspectives, because there will always be someone diary or book that you may be overlooking.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have not done much family history work for my ancestors because I have only been a member for a year and a half, I understand how important it is to be knowledgeable of our personal history through geological records. My father's family is Jewish, and my great-grandmother recently celebrated her 100th birthday this year. It's incredible to think that she witnessed the literal return of the Jews to the Holy Land when Israel was made a state after World War II. Likewise, it's daunting to think that she personally knew what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust because she had cousins who lived in Europe while Hitler was in power. I could spend my entire life learning about the Holocaust or anything else that has occurred within the past century, but I'm sure that I'd learn more in a few discussions with her because she learned about so many of these things personally or through those she knew personally. Professors can be amazing teachers of history, but family members can be even better because of who they are--family.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Sam. I really liked how you mentioned the same account being told by various people as having different, yet true, perspectives. It reminded me of a youtube mini-series I recently began watching, Kid History, where the kids tell what happened. While they get the general idea of the story, there are some parts of the stories that probably didn't happen, and that's what make it so great. Then there are people who like to exaggerate and blow the story way out of proportion. I really enjoy listening to family stories at reunions and seeing the ways that different family members tell the same story.
ReplyDeleteThis post ties in perfectly with the topic that we covered today in class. Sam wrote about his grandfather and how he only remembered him as being the old man, or should we say "old eagle", in the wheel chair. It is interesting how when we look at people we somewhat see them as a one dimensional being. We can only see what our eyes are telling us. We often forget that people are 3 dimensional; they have a past, a present, and a future. Sam's account of his grandfather's clippings show that at one point, his grandfather used to be quite the bear! I am sure that his grandfather, although stricken with years in Sam's eyes, had learned something from those early days that he still carried with him, and those are the things that he would try to pass on. There always seems to be something more that we can't perceive with the naked eye or with our initial "gut feeling". History is full of complex stories that have layers upon layers that can be misunderstood if we don't understand where they are coming from. Us as a younger generation, who grew up in the age of technology, might wonder why Sam's grandfather was so excited about a power wheel chair when he could be on a Segway or texting on an iPhone. But he has a unique background. He lived a different life as a mouse and a bear than what we are living. His history and his experiences are unique; something that nobody else lived. His insights, as well as others in history, give us something to look back on and learn from as we attempt to reinvent knowledge for the future.
ReplyDeleteSam, I like the point you made about how we learn so much about figures from the past from what other people say about them. I think, though, that the whole concept of people writing down their own personal histories (keeping a diary, if you will)is a really fascinating form of passing down knowledge through generations. I wondered about how people learn to keep such records for themselves, and actually I'm still wondering, if anyone has any ideas on that? I think in many cases it's actually a form of folk knowledge, not something formally taught. I found one interesting diary online that sheds some light on the subject - it's from a midwife living in the late 1700s to early 1800s, but she didn't start this daily diary until she was 50 years old! You can check it out some interesting parts of this diary at http://dohistory.org/diary/themes/index.html. It makes me wonder whether record keeping might not be a response to a human desire to leave something permanent behind after the realization sets in that our earthly existence is not so permanent. Maybe literacy is the only knowledge that has to actually be passed on, and the desire to leave a record just comes naturally to some people.
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