Perspective

The way we see things is unique. Our perspective on an experience may be totally different from what someone's is. That is why recording our feelings about experiences we have had in life is so important. Even though our family members may have had the same experience, they will have a different perspective on it. Sharing our perspective may help others to understand us and to understand the experience better too. Writing our story helps others to see our perspective on things.

An Ancestor's Story

Today I saw this video. It is a story about the Martin Handcart Company. My great great grandparents and their children were members of the Martin Handcart Company and they were the recipients of the kindness of the three young men in this video. Every so often I encounter a story about one of my ancestors that makes them seem more real and I see them in a different light. I can't help but think how grateful they were for those young men. When you come across a story about one of your ancestors record it as another part of your family's story.

Too Many Choices?

If you're like me, you have too many choices of things you need and want to do. When I was a young girl, the choices were more limited. My family didn't have a television until I was about nine years old, so watching a television program was not a choice for me when I was little. Today I can turn on the television and watch local programs. I can subscribe to cable or satellite services and watch hundreds of channels on my television. I can use high-speed Internet service and watch television programs, videos, news broadcasts, and movies. I can put a videotape in a VCR or a DVD in a DVD player and watch a movie or documentary. I can record broadcasts to watch at a later time. When I was young we had maybe 40 or 50 books in my home. The closest library was five miles away. My parents subscribed to a daily newspaper and to a couple of magazines a month. Now I have hundreds of books in my home. The library is less than a mile away and I can order in books at the library from other cities in our state. I can read newspapers online. I can research and find websites on almost any topic I want. When I was young we didn't eat out. We might get an ice cream cone at a drive-in once in a while, but we always ate our meals at home unless we were traveling. Then my mother usually packed lunch or we picked up a few things at a grocery store. Even when we went to a drive-in theatre, my mother brought our own treats. The types of fruits and vegetables available were limited. Prepared and packaged foods were more limited and most of our food was prepared from scratch. Growing up on a farm, we had our milk straight from the cow and eggs fresh from the chickens. During the summer we would pick vegetables out of the garden and fruit off from the trees in the orchard. Today eating out is a frequent occurrence for most people. When traveling stopping at fast food places is quick and easy and eating in a restaurant is a nice break. We have fruits and vegetables available from around the world and at almost any time of the year. Sometimes the choices seem almost overwhelming. When you shop for something to eat, you have numerous choices of where to shop. Then you have several choices of what to buy. When you want entertainment, you have several choices. When you need information, you have several ways to get the information. Recording what life was like in years past compared to now can be eye-opening for yourself as well as for your children or grandchildren. Start to write down how your life has changed. You have many choices of how to record your life story. You can write it with pencil and paper, type it on a typewriter or enter it into a computer. You can make an audio recording or you can make a video recording. You can take pictures with a regular camera or a digital camera or a video camera. You can type or print out your written story, make a CD or DVD of your story, publish your story on a website, or make a scrapbook, make a book with the printed story and photographs. But whatever way you choose, just start to record your story.

Download a free version of Personal Historian at http://www.rootsmagic.com/Try/Personal-Historian/ and see if it is a good way for you to record your story.