Monthly Archives: April 2018

Conversations With Myself

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Have you wondered what advice you would give yourself if you could meet the younger you?       I have. And so to aid in that little experiment I took a hypothetical stroll through my memories. It was an interesting jaunt.

Now you think I would go back just far enough to make a difference but not so far back as to terrify myself. The infant stage is much too young for paranormal activities. We might be more open to them at that age but I don’t think we have the mental capacity to analyze and internalize the incident for it to be at all helpful. It would become part of our dreams or our mythology. Not helpful.

In the teenage years we might have the mental capacity to understand it but would we have the experience to incorporate and benefit from the information? Let’s face it, the teenage years are often full of angst and indecision.  We don’t want to stand out from the crowd too much and accepting information from any future you is just a bit too ‘out there’.

Now our 20s and 30s are the perfect time. We are starting to get our footing into a career and to understand the thought processes required to function in society. We are beginning to manifest the courage to become the individual we always wanted to be. So perhaps that would be the perfect time to get reacquainted. I wonder how that would go? In the wee hours of the night a conversation might go something like this:

 

”Hello me!”

“Say, what? Man that sushi must’ve been bad! Or maybe I have a tumour. Are you a tumour?”

Laughing quietly, “No, I’m not a tuna or a tumour! I am you in 40 years! Is there anything you would like to ask me? I have so much to tell you to make your life better!”

“Got any winning lottery numbers?”

(Damn, I never thought of that! Why didn’t I think of lottery numbers?) “I’m not here with easy fixes. I’m here to help the you that you are today be better for tomorrow. “

“That sounds like cheating. Do I become a cheater?”

“Er, no, I just thought that you could benefit from the experiences I have gained by living         my life.”

“But that’s not my life.”

“Well, yes it is because I’m you.”

No you’re not. You’re the you from 40 years in the future. I’m not you,

I’m me.

 

And that in a nutshell is why it would never work. The person I am today is not the person I was 40 years ago and the only way to become the person I am today is to live those 40 years. There ain’t no shortcuts in life!

Damn!

It’s A Fact

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Perfect I ain’t

And that’s just a fact

I do have my moments

And sometimes they lack.

I love with abandon

It’s wild as they say

But it is a comfort

To spend everyday.

I look for the joy

And temper the sad

I try to be good

I try not to be bad.

The choices I make

In the life that I live

Will come from the heart

In all that I give.

Perfect I ain’t

That is the fact

But life is for living

And I ain’t goin’ back!

Making History

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That’s what we do, you and I. We make history. We also report history. Our lives are made up of minutia. We brush our hair, we do our laundry, we eat, we sleep, we work, we create history every day but not one that needs to be recorded. And sometimes, just sometimes, we are part of that which does need to be remembered.

But do we remember it correctly? They say that ‘history is written by the victors’. That was true at one time but now we have Instant Replay everywhere. Chances are our piece of history is going to be on YouTube somewhere. And we can’t escape that. Is that good for history or bad?

I once made the quip that memory is the ability to edit our lives. We all do it. We want to remember the good and temper the bad. I think that’s just human nature. But what about the times before cameras were everywhere? Did our history books get it right? I’d like to think so but there were no recording devices. We have people writing history from their memories about their opinions, their side. And that’s where I question whether or not truth is related in history.

Nowadays people go to the movies for their history lessons. Movies are made to make money. There is always a ‘based on a true story’ or ‘inspired by events’. Actors, Producers, Directors and the hundreds of people involved in making movies don’t do it for free. It can be a lucrative business. To that end they make changes to accommodate their narrative and often for financial reasons. And now I’m going to have a little rant.

In 2012 the movie Argo was released to widespread acclaim. It won several prestigious awards and it was a lie. I am Canadian and proud of my country. On November 4, 1979 the United States Embassy in Tehran was attacked and most of the Embassy staff were taken hostage. Six avoided capture and were protected by the Canadian Embassy and then ambassador Ken Taylor. He got them out of the country. It’s a Canadian story usurped. And that’s the history that will be remembered because it’s on the screen. And it angers me.

Oh, and one more thing that really irks me: Director Ben Affleck didn’t even thank the people that actually did the deed. He should be ashamed. I hope history remembers this part.

 

So how do we trust history when it is fed to us as entertainment?