The Remembering

Writer Toni Morrison once described how the Mississippi River has been straightened out to make room for houses and other livable areas and how these areas are prone to flooding. "Flooding" is the word they use, but in fact, it is remembering. The Mississippi is "remembering" where it used to be.

We review our own histories to remind ourselves of where we were, what we already know, before we have been straightened out. The telling of our stories is doing the work of our souls.

Our histories and our stories are woven together forming the fabric of each of our lives. We take the occasional glance backwards to see if we have still held off those fateful encounters with the truth. Are we still able to avoid dealing with something we have never been able to shake. We may remember some unfinished business and decide that we can find some meaning in finishing it once and for all.

For some of us our histories aren't as much of a gold mine as a mine shaft and beg to ask the questions that have been central to our lives.