You may have read the title of this entry and thought “What??? No one is holding me hostage.”
That may be true, but that’s not always going to be the case. (And no, that’s not some idol threat, it’s going to happen to everyone.)
The fact is that our children are holding us hostage – in the same way that we are holding our parents hostage. Remember all of those old pictures that are in your basement or attic or in some file folder somewhere? Do you realize that in many cases, they may be the last and only photographic reference to those people IN HUMAN HISTORY???
Guess who is in charge of those photos right now – yep, you. And you alone will decide the fate of those pictures, references and evidence of your forbears. And in the same way – even though your pictures might be digital and they might be on your computer, your kids will be responsible for whether those pictures are archived correctly and accurately or if they go straight to the recycle bin and trashed because there is no connection between your kids and your pictures.
A few entries back, I referenced Edna Parker, the oldest woman on the face of the earth right now. She was born in 1893 and she turned 115 not too long ago. Because of her longevity – and those who were born after her that have lived to this generation – it’s possible for all of the people she ever knew to be digitally remembered for all time. Camcorders, digital cameras, scanners and digital media like flash drives and burnable CD’s allow us to record for all time the stories and images of our families and our loved ones.
So when you look at those old pictures in your attic or basement or wherever they might be, know that you are not only holding a picture, but you are holding photographic evidence that someone you know or never knew once existed on the earth. You hold the key to whether or not that photo is captured or destroyed – and doing nothing would point to the latter.
And remember this too – involving your kids in the process of saving your family history will mean that they will treat your photos the same way.
