(Even if they're over 40!! Nieces, Nephews, Grandkids, and Cousins included!)
| I recently received an email from my mid 20's Step-Daughter thanking
me for sharing a piece of information about an unknown Great Great Uncle, born in Norway,
who served in the Civil War. Her most significant comment was
"Until I got this information, I didn't even know that part of our family
was from Norway!!" In a subsequent telephone comment to her
Mother she said "Mom, why don't I already know this stuff??" And
thus this web page and an idea are born!!!
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| Our children know about the 'Cat in the Hat', and about 'Green Eggs
and Ham', and about 'Survivors', and about The Clinton foolishness, and
about ....... What they don't know is the story
of Uncle Richard's visit to the Bulge and how he lost his arm, and Great Aunt
Marie and her relationship with the WCTU (American History 101?), and about
the wonderful smell of Grampa's old clay pipe in the evening (Hey, isn't that
the pipe that's up in the attic somewhere?), and about their Great Grandfather's
heroism and death at Gettysburg. They don't know the 'difficult'
stories either - Aunt Maude's problem with brother Rum, the desertion of
Great Uncle Ben at Petersburg, or perhaps Great Uncle Sam's relationship
to Quantrill in Kansas, and yes - even about the slavery of Great Great
Grandfather Amos. We need to be telling them so they know who they
are - who we are!!
Since the coming of electricity we have stopped telling family stories! We now leave it to radio, and television, musicians, and, Lord help us, the Media. Electricity and the Internet can give it all back to us if we choose to use it. Turn off the tube, the CD/CDV, the cassette, the radio and tell your kid(s) a story - about family!! Do it Tonight!! If you don't know one - find one!! Tell Your Kid a Story!! A Family Story!! You will love it, they will love it, and best of all, they will begin to know who they are, and so will you!! |
| "This you knows: the years
travel fast and time after time I done the tell.
But this ain't one body's tell; it's the tell of us all, and you've got
to listen it and member, cause what you hears today you gotta tell
the newborn tomorrow.
" I's lookin behind us now, into history back. I sees those of us that got the luck and started the haul for home and I members how it led us here and how we was heartbroke cause we seen what they once was. "One look and we knew'd we'd got it straight. Those what had gone before had the knowin and the doin and things beyond our reckonin, even beyond our dreamin. "Time counts and keeps countin and we knows now, findin the trick of what's been and lost ain't no easy ride. But that's our track. We gotta travel it and there ain't nobody knows wheres it's gonna lead. "Still, in all, every night we does the tell so that we member who we was and where we came from. "But most of all we members the man who finded us, him that came the salvage, and we lights the city not just for him but for all of 'em that are still out there, cause we knows there'll come a night when they sees the distant light and they'll be comin home."
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(Internet Explorer - 'Save Target As': Netscape - 'Save Link As:') For email tags, just include the saved file as an attachment to your email. For website links, copy the text from telltag.html into your web page.  |