My earliest memory is of my mother reading to me. In my memory it seems like a Golden Book, but now looking back on it, I suspect it was more of a pamphlet produced by the children’s hospital in Fort Worth. I was three and getting ready to go to the hospital overnight to have my tonsils out. The book (or pamphlet) my mom was reading was a story about going to the hospital. The waiting room had child sized chairs and tables and the rooms had cribs. I wanted to sleep in a crib, but my mom explained I was too big now for that. She read about the mask on my face and that my throat would hurt when I woke up. I was well prepared for the experience and when you add to it the gifts I got from my grandmothers and the fact that I could get a popsicle by pushing the call button when my throat hurt, all in all it was a positive memory.

My mother also told a story for decades about the care at the children’s hospital which included a nurse (in her fifties so older than my parents at the time) racing into the room chasing a “bee” which then stung me. Mom said she went up and down the ward killing “bees” and giving pre-op shots leaving all of us laughing rather than crying. I don’t actually remember this but it feels like I do because mom told the story a lot and also how exuberantly she told and embellished it.

I thought of that story this week as I turned in an assignment for my Memory and History class. Over recent weeks, we’ve watched one movie, “Mientras de la guerra (While At War)”, and read two books, History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, by Deborah Lipstadt and Soldiers of Salamis, by Javier Cercas. History on Trial is a memoir and Soldiers of Salamis and “While at War” are based on true events. All three are stories of the actions of individual people in the context of major historical events (two during the Spanish Civil War and one of World War II.)

I decided to share these today because I found them each interesting and entertaining while challenging. They each explore the choices made by individuals when choosing is difficult and possibly dangerous in one way or another. Their choices, and the choices of other people around them are, in part, what makes these stories compelling. Just as that nurse’s choice to chase that bee made a difference to the children and parents going through the tonsillectomy process that day, it was my mom’s choosing to tell the story that kept it alive. Stories help us remember and understand our pasts. Stories can help us remember and perhaps understand our collective histories. They can also help us by showing other people’s decisions and the consequences of those actions.

I found a review of the book Soldiers of Salamis by Nick Caistor that I quoted in my assignment and I’ll share here.

“A vital part of the attempt to keep the past as living memory rather than dead history is to investigate individual motives.” (Caistor 2003). Caistor ended his review with these words saying Cercas, “offer(s) a gentle and often moving reassertion that individual lives and actions matter most, however overwhelming the historical circumstances may seem.”

Our individual stories matter because of the individual choices we make. What stories do you remember from your life? What choices do you see in those stories – both choices you made and those by others? How do you remember and share your history through stories? And to add a leadership perspective here – how do you translate and create culture in organizations you are part of? What stories do you share? What difference might they be making?

And last, but certainly not least — I’m writing this on Monday when early voting starts in Texas and other states as well.  Our individual stories matter here as well because they lead to decisions and actions. Choosing not to vote has consequences just as choosing to vote does. Please take this as my reminder that your individual vote matters and find your way to cast a vote this year!

Take care,

Gage

P.S. History on Trial has been made into a movie called “Denial”. Soldiers of Salamis is also a movie though not currently available.

Quote of the Week

“Voting is how we participate in a civic society – be it for president, be it for a municipal election. It’s the way we teach our children – in school elections – how to be citizens and the importance of their voice.”

Loretta Lynch
“Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American attorney who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2010 to 2015. As a U.S. attorney, Lynch oversaw federal prosecutions in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Lynch