Stories and clichés

No sense of history, you say?
Well, it’s true that I
don’t like taking pictures
or having my picture taken.
Indeed, my children will not see
snapshots of me forcing a smile
at the zoo, beneath the Eiffel Tower,
or next to long-forgotten classmates.
Nor will my shelves be filled with
dusty photo albums kept as
trophies of overseas vacations,
evidence that I’ve really been to
Paris, Rome, or some seaside resort.

I prefer instead to keep my own memories,
the kind that’s captured by my own eyes
rather than the photosensitive arrays
of some digital camera.

I’d like to be the author
of my own story,
picking out treasured moments
the way a jazz musician
plays only the most stirring notes,
the way a painter uses each colour
only where it has its place.

My history will not be a
series of clichés,
but rather,
a painstakingly woven tapestry
of thought and experiences,
a continuing tale that one day
will flow effortlessly
into my children’s possession.



- 23 February 2008