Throw Back Thursdays

April 11, 2014

Yes, I know this is Friday and I am a day late. The Throw Back Thursdays on Facebook have been fun to look at. I really enjoy getting a glimpse of friends’ past. Don’t you? As we make new friends in our lives, what we know about them and who they were before we met is pretty sparse. These pics give us a peek of their younger years and can sometimes fill in some blanks in our knowledge of who they are.

And, isn’t that just what history is? Viewing the past through things like photos to gain insight about people. Just another example of why I believe all history is personal. As a history professional, I do what a lot of us do. Examine records, documents and artifacts to make critical assessments about past events. Important work and certainly work that adds to our understanding of history and how we got to where we are today as a nation, culture and community. But, there is something about the personal history of families and friends that is fascinating. Photos are the tangible part of the unbroken chain of events and experiences of individuals that are constantly carried forward and contributing to the lives of everyone they touch. Less tangible, but no less impactful are the stories, traditions and practices families and groups of friends keep.

The remembrance of a family event, a conversation with someone, the memories evoked from one of those photos all combine to create a lens through which we view our past, our present and our future. We often hear the old adage that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. Some truth in that statement I suppose. More importantly I think is that we should learn from the successes and joys of the past and strive to repeat them. What if we remembered those times when we were younger and content with the simple things in life? What if we recalled the sense of freedom we felt because our schedules were not so busy? What if we could recapture the pure joy of just spending time with someone? No agenda. No objective for the time. Nothing but being there and in the moment.

There is always plenty of time to do big things. To achieve things we have deemed important. Time to make a living. But really, are all of those accomplishments the point? After an accomplishment, there is a good feeling of achievement. A job well done. A sense of pride. Even better though is the feeling after an evening with friends that creates a fond memory. That memory will stay with us and support us in down times in a way that our resume can’t. We don’t gather our awards, documents and paychecks around us on our death bed, we gather our friends and family. So why then do we gather them around us during our lives?

P.S. The above photo is of my g-g-grandfather William Hargus Holbrook, his wife Isabel and two of their four sons John and Pleasant. I often wondered over the years why the other two sons were not in the photo, especially my g-grandfather Henry. Recently, I learned that Henry was an itinerant photography. So, it is almost certain he was the one who took the photograph. Wow!