How We Become Activists
There is a big interest in genealogy and writing life stories these days. After all, we know things no one else knows. We have memories of families, traditions and places. We’ve lived through good times and bad. We’ve been alive during historical events and hold our own thoughts on what happened and how we felt.
Our stories get set down in scrapbooks and journals. We share photographs. We visit cemeteries or take road trips to places we once loved well. In the telling, our reminiscences are a moment in Time. Someone asks, “When did it happen? What time of year? Who was there?”
Recently Barry and I talked about life events with high school students. We hoped to show that what happens in life can change us in unexpected ways. To do this, we created panels in a Timeline. Each panel represented one decade and important things about that particular time.
We started with the 1950’s when we were both three years old. We lived in a small town during the post-World War II days. We linked facts and questions about world events, personal events, politics, news and everyday happenings to our memories.
In the 1950’s, it was the Cold War. As second graders we hid under our desks during air raid drills. Polio was an epidemic in the US. “No swimming and no parties.” Life Magazine showed rows of children and adults in machines called Iron Lungs that kept them breathing. Then Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio and we lined up at school for our shots. Everyone received the vaccinations.
October 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. It shocked the world and especially because the Russians were first in the big race to space. We students started studying more math and science and got something new in our lives — homework.
The 1950’s timeline covered Civil Rights, Elvis Presley and our individual passions: rivers, streams, snakes and critters (Barry) and books, libraries, stories and the outside (Gretchen).
And so the Timeline continued, decade by decade. The high school students identified problems we still puzzle over, still worry about today. Clean air and water. Education. How to solve conflicts. Bullies and cheats. What is good for all people?
It’s time to listen even more carefully to our stories and memories and decide which ones are best to live by.
Our stories get set down in scrapbooks and journals. We share photographs. We visit cemeteries or take road trips to places we once loved well. In the telling, our reminiscences are a moment in Time. Someone asks, “When did it happen? What time of year? Who was there?”
Recently Barry and I talked about life events with high school students. We hoped to show that what happens in life can change us in unexpected ways. To do this, we created panels in a Timeline. Each panel represented one decade and important things about that particular time.
We started with the 1950’s when we were both three years old. We lived in a small town during the post-World War II days. We linked facts and questions about world events, personal events, politics, news and everyday happenings to our memories.
In the 1950’s, it was the Cold War. As second graders we hid under our desks during air raid drills. Polio was an epidemic in the US. “No swimming and no parties.” Life Magazine showed rows of children and adults in machines called Iron Lungs that kept them breathing. Then Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio and we lined up at school for our shots. Everyone received the vaccinations.
October 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. It shocked the world and especially because the Russians were first in the big race to space. We students started studying more math and science and got something new in our lives — homework.
The 1950’s timeline covered Civil Rights, Elvis Presley and our individual passions: rivers, streams, snakes and critters (Barry) and books, libraries, stories and the outside (Gretchen).
And so the Timeline continued, decade by decade. The high school students identified problems we still puzzle over, still worry about today. Clean air and water. Education. How to solve conflicts. Bullies and cheats. What is good for all people?
It’s time to listen even more carefully to our stories and memories and decide which ones are best to live by.
