Good afternoon, Summer Soul Students,
How was your writing from last week? I hope you were brave and wrote something. It's vital. Keep reading.
Shh, the prompt is at the bottom.
From ancient times until now, stories have been the guideposts forward. We are surrounded by stories. Whether indigenous tribes were planning a hunt, or leaving a legacy for the members yet to come, hand recorded stories have been the core of the human existence. Today, news reports, books, podcasts, movies, and conversations are the stories that saturate us. However, few of those are lasting.
Our generation maybe the last link to recorded day to day life history. Technology is a gift. It brings the world closer, the information quicker, and supports us in ways prior eras could never imagine. However, in the same blink of an eye, as a Googled answer, the story could be lost. Those following us will never know how we got to where we ended up.
Vanishing Stories
The letters, ledgers, and print newspapers will be unavailable. No one will know how to access your photos, Facebook, or Instagram. A university librarian, shared a story this past weekend, of finding a closet of shredded yearbooks and calendars. She was informed they had all been scanned a few years ago when they were shredded. Her team located the scanned file on a computer drive. Unfortunately, there is no way to read the file. The technology it was compatible no longer exists, or works. Stories gone for good.
Why Me?
"Great," you ask, "But what does this have to do with me? I am just little ole me?
My answer is, "You're right. You are one more common soul like the rest of us. However, most everyone else that ever lived was once a common soul. Without their stories, written or told, we would have no lights before us."
Summer Soul School Prompt 2
Honor your place in this life, grab a pen and paper, or a Word document and record the events of your birth. Even if it's just a list. Were you the oldest, youngest, or middle? Did anything exciting happen around your birth? How was your name selected, and did it mean anything?
Give yourself a ten-minute minimum, see what magic blossoms on the page. Then print it, or if you hand wrote it, tuck it away. At the end of this you will have a collection of your stories to leave for the ones coming up behind.
Who knows, you may be famous someday, and everyone will want to know you.
Write well. Have fun. See you next week.
Carrie
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