It was a popular thing a few years back. People were recording themselves stating their final wishes on a video. This video was to be shown at the funeral or celebration of life as they call it these days. That's fine for some, but I'm not celebrating, I'm dead. I'm not celebrating that someone else is either. Yeah I know we're celebrating their contributions and their memory. I hope people feel a loss when I'm gone, call it selfish, but that is what I hope. Well whatever the case there won't be a recording. Personally I think that would just be creepy.
I do think it is great to have recordings of those we love. It's a far cry from old photographs. Motion and sound. The cliché of the home movie. My family never made any of those as movie cameras were expensive and the developing of that film as well. My sister just told me she does have a cassette recording of my dad talking. She said she will share that with me and I'm excited for that. Dad passed in 90 and I haven't heard his voice since. Oh, he speaks to me alright, almost every day, but he sounds just like me. Or is it I sound like him? Anyway, I can remember his voice if I think hard enough. We say it is our conscience speaking, but it is those voices from our past.
Listening to some of the folks today I wonder what has happened? How can those folks ignore all those voices from the past? And surely they must, to endorse such notions as they present. Oh, they call it having their own opinion, or they call it free speech, they label it as progressive but in reality it is regressive. I say regressive because they are ignoring the lessons of the past, rejecting the old time wisdom and common sense that formed the very nature of an American. Yes, Americans were immigrants. Yes, Americans are a diverse culture and always have been. But Americans also shared a commonality, a sense of purpose and pride in their nation. Those people immigrated to America to become one thing, Americans! They came for opportunity, not for guarantees. They came not to a " promised land " but rather to a land that offered " promise. " It was up to you to take advantage of the opportunity.
I wandered off a bit there but my mind does that occasionally. Alright it does it more than I like to admit. My thoughts do have to wander, they can't be penned! That's because I'm typing, LOL sorry couldn't help that one. I was thinking about the voices of the past and how those voices guide us in our daily lives. I have written this and believe it to be absolutely true, " there is little that can be said that hasn't been said before. " The real talent lies in saying it in a way people haven't heard it before. To " paraphrase " the past is the heart of genius. Man has been doing that since the beginning. We still quote the ancient Greeks and Romans. I'm certain a great deal of what they " said " they heard from their parents or some other elder. It is one of the best compliments a person can receive, to be quoted. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I love old photographs and recordings of all kinds. I have no desire to make one for future generations however. I think just like the best pictures they have to be unposed, candid. Should a few snippets of me survive and be discovered by my ancestors that would be cool. I'm counting on all my writings being preserved and passed down. In theory all these blogs are on the internet, forever! At least that is what I'm told. So there's that. There are stars in life and there are the extras. I'm an extra, no top billing for me. That's alright, it is the extras that give depth to the panorama we call living. I do think each of us should act as understudies. We should learn from those that came and adhere to that knowledge. “The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one's education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance, or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died.” Plato said that. Wonder where he heard that?
I do think it is great to have recordings of those we love. It's a far cry from old photographs. Motion and sound. The cliché of the home movie. My family never made any of those as movie cameras were expensive and the developing of that film as well. My sister just told me she does have a cassette recording of my dad talking. She said she will share that with me and I'm excited for that. Dad passed in 90 and I haven't heard his voice since. Oh, he speaks to me alright, almost every day, but he sounds just like me. Or is it I sound like him? Anyway, I can remember his voice if I think hard enough. We say it is our conscience speaking, but it is those voices from our past.
Listening to some of the folks today I wonder what has happened? How can those folks ignore all those voices from the past? And surely they must, to endorse such notions as they present. Oh, they call it having their own opinion, or they call it free speech, they label it as progressive but in reality it is regressive. I say regressive because they are ignoring the lessons of the past, rejecting the old time wisdom and common sense that formed the very nature of an American. Yes, Americans were immigrants. Yes, Americans are a diverse culture and always have been. But Americans also shared a commonality, a sense of purpose and pride in their nation. Those people immigrated to America to become one thing, Americans! They came for opportunity, not for guarantees. They came not to a " promised land " but rather to a land that offered " promise. " It was up to you to take advantage of the opportunity.
I wandered off a bit there but my mind does that occasionally. Alright it does it more than I like to admit. My thoughts do have to wander, they can't be penned! That's because I'm typing, LOL sorry couldn't help that one. I was thinking about the voices of the past and how those voices guide us in our daily lives. I have written this and believe it to be absolutely true, " there is little that can be said that hasn't been said before. " The real talent lies in saying it in a way people haven't heard it before. To " paraphrase " the past is the heart of genius. Man has been doing that since the beginning. We still quote the ancient Greeks and Romans. I'm certain a great deal of what they " said " they heard from their parents or some other elder. It is one of the best compliments a person can receive, to be quoted. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I love old photographs and recordings of all kinds. I have no desire to make one for future generations however. I think just like the best pictures they have to be unposed, candid. Should a few snippets of me survive and be discovered by my ancestors that would be cool. I'm counting on all my writings being preserved and passed down. In theory all these blogs are on the internet, forever! At least that is what I'm told. So there's that. There are stars in life and there are the extras. I'm an extra, no top billing for me. That's alright, it is the extras that give depth to the panorama we call living. I do think each of us should act as understudies. We should learn from those that came and adhere to that knowledge. “The soul takes nothing with her to the next world but her education and her culture. At the beginning of the journey to the next world, one's education and culture can either provide the greatest assistance, or else act as the greatest burden, to the person who has just died.” Plato said that. Wonder where he heard that?
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