5. Those who forget history are forced to relive it, first as tragedy, then as farce.
People who don't learn from history are clearly bound to make the same mistakes that have already been made. History tends to repeat itself in ways. People who think that the misfortunes in history won't happen again are sadly mistaken. World War I was called the war to end all wars. Clearly that wasn't true. Human beings are flawed creatures; we claim to learn from our mistakes but we almost never do. When someone makes the mistake of re-living forgotten history once, it sometimes can still end up being salvageable. But not always. Mistakes can only be made so many times until it causes havoc to break.
6. The stuff I've collected over the years in my little box/bureau drawer/keepsake chest marks every step of my way.
Souvenirs are more then just mementos collected. There's a reason why people enjoy collecting things so heavily. It's more then a materialistic item- it's a piece of the place you've been. People enjoy post cards for a reason; people enjoy collecting t-shirts with locations on them for a reason. It's nice to have tangible evidence of your adventures; it's nice to have something other then stories that you can pass down to your loved ones. I have many things that I keep because I got them somewhere exciting, and I can always remember where I got each thing. Keepsakes are more then just things.
7. Looking in that photo album, I see--
How different life was when the picture was taken. The moment in which the picture was taken. The smiles on the faces of the people in the picture. When the picture was taken. Where the picture was taken.
Usually, when I look through photo albums, I see pictures of my childhood. We didn't have much money, but we have a lot of priceless memories. Many of my pictures are of me wearing hand-me-down clothes and doing things that really didn't cost any money. Sledding and playing in the yard. Picking apples. Dancing in the living room. Playing dress up with my cousin and my sister. Looking at photo albums is a great way to look back into how things used to be or how things maybe even should be again. The best thing is to look at the pictures and not feel sad... Feel happy for having had these memories at all.
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ReplyDeleteHolliann--drop word verification! Dashboard/settings/comments/word verification--click no.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to read these after the week 2 theme piece. This is dutiful, a school assignment, assigned and completed. The other was obviously something you loved and had fun with.
All three of these here have the same basic problem: you are treating the prompts like test questions to be answered 'correctly' rather than as springboards for a piece of your own. That approach leads to think pieces ('I think this, I think that')--you avoid that in the last one, not in the other two.
Well, tomorrow is another day, eh?