I took the law into my own hands. Congress wouldn’t act, so I did. I wrote the law. Now I’m rounding up a posse to make sure that the law gets enforced. Reader…consider yourself hereby and henceforward deputized to carry out…The Endangered Stories Act… An Act of the People, Not of Congress.
I began really thinking about this when I tried to learn more about the generation of my great-grandparents, who were Lithuanian Jews who fleeing from pogroms and arrived in the U.S in the early 1900s. By the time I got around to asking about them, not only were they long gone, but my father told me that when he had asked them about life in the old country, they would only say, “ We’re here now, we don’t want to talk about it.” Case closed and stories lost. Remember….when a story is told for the last time and not recorded or remembered, it will be as irretrievable as that last passenger pigeon or dodo bird.
I once made a project of asking people for stories about the best gift they ever received. Here’s one that I heard from a young waitress. Her family was having a rough go of it. Her father had been badly injured and hadn’t worked for several years. The budget was stretched and Christmas was fast approaching. One day, this young woman’s grandmother came to her and apologized that she had no money to buy her a gift. What she did have though was time. She offered her Granddaughter three days alone together and gave the gift of her life story, and told of things that she had not spoken of for many years. She chose to tell these stories to this granddaughter because she had been the one who had asked and shown interest before. With tears in her eyes, this fortunate young woman told me that this was her most precious and priceless gift.
There is nothing more valuable that we can pass on to each other than our stories. When we capture and share our most important life lessons, we give a gift to ourselves, to the people we love and the people who love us.
There are a myriad of ways to do this, encompassing everything from journals, to scrapbooks to audio and video recording or simply taking time away from the television and having a little more focused conversations at the dinner table. If Grandpa resists, or if you are a grandpa, you now have a powerful new tool of persuasion. It’s the Law! Here it is.
(If you would like a replica of the ESA on genuine phony parchment paper click here.
If you don’t know the trees you may become lost in the forest
But if you don’t know the stories you may become lost in life. -Native Elder
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The Endangered Stories Act
An Act of the People, not of Congress
Proclamation
In Order to Honor the rich heritage of oral traditions that exist in all cultures and among all people; and,
Recognizing, the Power of Stories to enrich individuals, families, and communities; and,
Aware, of the Power of Stories to transmit values that help make life sustainable for our own and future generations; and,
Conscious, of the Power of Stories to link us to each other through the recognition and celebration of both diversity and our common heritage; and,
Whereas, a Story told for the last time and not passed on will become irretrievably extinct, lost forever to the people and the future;
Therefore, We The People create the Endangered Stories Act
and acting on its behalf;
Promise to ask our Elders to tell us their Stories, to share with us stories of their origins, accomplishments, hardships, and their hopes and dreams for the future;
Pledge to strengthen our listening and our voices; to find and tell our own Stories; and,
Commit to find a tale that speaks to us and to become the Caretaker of that Story.
We will tell and retell that Story and find another person to pass it on to, thus preserving it for posterity.
We hereby ratify the Endangered Stories Act and add our voices
to begin its implementation today!
Photo credit: Gerald Cohen
