A Vital Resource

What is significant?

I’ve written before about the difference between historical events viewed in the context of emotional connection and those seen as an historical occurrence.  History books can give facts of who, when, what, where; yet cannot give an emotional and societal context.  The saying ‘history repeats itself’ is very true, and we are urged to remember the lessons history teaches.  Without emotional or eyewitness context, however, history cannot truly educate.

What is this resource?

I call us a bridge generation.  The world and society has changed much more rapidly since World War II than in many other eras.  We have experienced and seen first hand the many changes that created the culture in which we all now live.  We lived through pre-ERA and feminism; through segregation, de facto segregation, integration and forced integration by bus; through Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm; through the radio age to the reign of television; through technological advances that took us from the word processor to general access to the Information Highway known as the Internet.

Without our voices telling what the ‘before’ times were like and the struggles that accompanied such changes, the value of historical gains is lost to those born in the ‘after’ times.  The terms ‘glass ceiling’, ‘equal opportunity’, ‘equal employment’ translate poorly in today’s world.  My niece was offered a full ride scholarship to an ivy-league university.  Would she have refused it if she had awareness of the civil rights struggles and the lives lost to make such an offer possible?  Would she have said she didn’t want to be a token?

Without the voices of our armed forces, will acts of war ever be anything but news bytes?  If we could truly understand the suffering and injustices of war, would we be so willing to support an administration that propels us into war?  I support, appreciate and give thanks to our troops who make it possible for me to live as I do; to sit at my computer and express myself freely and without fear of government repercussions.  Do those citizens born later understand how blessed they are?

What is the urgency?

Most of us are far from decrepit, drooling placeholders.  We have active minds, are well-educated by school and life experiences and are well worth hearing.  Despite improvements in life spans, we will not be accessible much longer.  Please take the opportunity to listen and learn — not about ‘the old days’, but about the adjustments society has made and is still making to accommodate the rapid changes around us.  History repeats itself, but the wheel doesn’t have to be reinvented; nor does suffering and disassociation have to repeat in such devastating ways.

We’re here — a bridge to contextual understanding and greater awareness of what humanity can be.  Recognize and access our experiences while you can.

That’s my point of view.  What’s yours?