“How would you instill bravery and strength in boys when the
current culture seems to work against these traits?”
My husband and I—oldsters—received an invitation to lead a
parenting class Sunday evening. We had handed out paper and asked parents to
submit questions for us.
All questions were good but the one above caught my
attention. (If you’re a regular here, you knew it would, didn’t you?) The
question just begged me to tell what memoir is all about, and I didn’t let the
opportunity slip away. (You knew I wouldn’t, right?)
After a brief explanation of what memoir is, I asked the
audience:
Who inspired bravery in you? What’s the bravest act you ever
witnessed?
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done? Write your story
and give it to your kids.
Who taught you the importance of being strong? Who modeled
for you how to be strong when it was mighty tempting to be weak? Write those
stories and give them to your kids.
Think about this, too: Stories of failures can pack a lot of
punch.
With that in mind, what’s the most un-brave act you’ve seen?
The most cowardly action you’ve taken?
What is the most un-strong deed you’ve witnessed in others?
When did you give in to weakness?
Have you ever pinned down, specifically, the values and
traits and strengths you want your kids and grandkids to possess? If not, start
today: Compile a list.
How about some of these for a start?
honesty
integrity
faithfulness
kindness
unselfishness
a sense of humor
wisdom
self discipline
commitment
tenacity
Don’t wait another day! Begin making your list.
In coming days and weeks, beside each trait, jot down a few
words to remind you of a story demonstrating that trait.
Then sit down at your computer, or get out pen and paper, and
start writing rough drafts of those stories.
Can you write one story a month? If so, you will have twelve
stories a year from now!
Stories have a bigger
impact than statistics,
a lecture, a chart, a
meeting,
an article, or intellectual reasoning.
And nagging.
You have stories that
only you can tell.
Your children and
grandchildren
and great
grandchildren need your stories.
Look for photos to accompany those stories—either your own
or from the Internet. Photos can help in a couple of ways.
First, they’ll help you remember details, settings, sights,
sounds, tastes, feelings, smells. They’ll help you remember songs of the era,
clothing styles, hair styles, and historical settings. Use such details to draw
readers right into your experience.
Second, photos add a depth of understanding and experience
to your kids and grands when they read your story. According to an ad at
Biblegateway.com, approximately 83% of human understanding happens visually,
and our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text—so dig out those
old photos. They’ll involve readers in your story and help them remember it.
“Our stories aren’t just
part of a timeline.
They are part of human
legacy.
They are the things that
connect generations.
They connect geography,
they connect culture,
they connect ethnicity and
race.”
Jacqui Banaszynski,
Touching Hearts One Story
at a Time”
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