While my first thought when I saw the prompt 'Storyteller' for this week's #52Ancestors challenge was of recording and verifying family stories, a recent discussion has sent my thoughts in a different direction.
Over the past few years we have seen many difficult times, and I
recently had a discussion with several fellow Family Historians about
how we should record our memories and reactions for the future, so that
generations yet to come can see how their ancestors lived through
several years of crisis.
In 2020 the world experienced a historic global pandemic, with many of us moving in and out of lockdowns and various restrictions on our daily lives. The world struggled to limit the spread and impact of Covid-19. Like many I was stood down from my job, saw businesses close and contacts restricted, and in the small community where I live, unforgettably saw armed police restricting travel across the state border.
While many of my memories of the pandemic restrictions, which flowed on into 2021, are stressful, there were also many positives. So many people came together to keep each other going. Online shopping boomed and the concept of 'click and collect' became (and remains) common. In the genealogical community meetings and conferences went online and access to many digitised records were relaxed to make research from home easier. The idea of working from home became much more common in many industries.
Hard on the heels of 2 years of Covid
lockdowns, 2022 saw my home area suffer the worst floods in living
memory. While my home itself was not impacted, many friends saw their
homes flood, roads and highways were cut, access to services cut, shops
closed and like many I came under an evacuation order.
We watched the Murray
River flood parkland, the water creeping closer and closer, flooding homes and breeching levies like the one behind the library where I work - see the photo below. As the water
rose the community came together to frantically sandbag homes and
businesses, another wonderful show of community spirit in the face of a
crisis.
These are memories that need to be recorded as part of our
family history. We have all lived through a global pandemic and lived
through or witnessed a number of historic times in recent years. Recording our memories
of such major events should be a part of our family history records,
for the generations that come after us.
So please, get writing your memories. Become your own storyteller of the historic times you have just lived through.
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