Seriously. Do you remember when you were a little kid and you thought that your stuffed animals came to life when you left the room? Or that people didn't do anything unless you were with them? Or that teachers didn't have a life, but just stayed in the school all the time? Well, the older I get, the more I realize that in fact, the world is full of people all living completely different lives. And that's an incredible, and fascinating, thing.
For example, today I worked for 5 hours, went to a 3 hour class, talked on the phone to my family, ate bratwurst and a mint Klondike bar for dinner, and decided to update my much-neglected blog. Today three of my friends have birthdays. Today someone got engaged, someone bought the puppy they've always wanted, someone became a mother or father. Today someone finally got enough to eat, bought a house, or saw their first zebra. Today someone lost a beloved grandmother, witnessed a brutal crime, or experienced an event that changed their life forever.
The world is full of people. I'll never meet them all, or even see pictures of them all. I'll never know their names, or what they had for breakfast (if they had breakfast at all). But I can always talk to the ones that I do meet and learn their stories. I think that's why studying history appeals to me so strongly. Through the documents I read, I learn the stories of people I'll never have the chance to meet. Sometimes they did extraordinary things, and sometimes their days were downright ordinary. But they are all fascinating. And through the work that I do in archives and museums, I can share their stories. Maybe I'll even manage to capture the imagination of a younger version of myself, and get him or her interested in history too. At the very least I'll make a life known, even in a small way.
At my job in the archive, I have the opportunity to work with a collection of photographs taken from the 1960s to the 1990s. How different life was in each of those decades compared to now! And those years are something that my parents and grandparents experienced. Sometimes I wish I had a time machine, to experience them all for myself. And sometimes I realize that that will never happen, and that these incredible collections of photographs and documents are the closest I can get. And that's pretty cool too.
So, for any readers out there, what is this post actually about? How fascinating human lives really are, in every time and every place. And that's all I have to say. For now... :)
