Storytime!

"That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story," (page 36).

I love the way that O'Brien writes. He can give an explanation for anything and whether it be wrong or right, or something you might even disagree with, he can make it sound completely reasonable. It actually made me realize that ignorance makes nonsense become truth. For example, if someone says to you that President O'Bama is actually a terrorist who is plotting to destroy the U.S., someone who has no clue about anything related to politics would never know how ridiculous the statement is. If one is not educated on a topic, they are more likely to believe someone who pretends to know what they are talking about. But anyway, let's get back on task. I agree with what O'Brien is trying to explain in the quote above. There have been plenty of times in my life where I use a story to try and describe how happy I was during a specific time in my life. I tell funny stories about freshman year which lead me to believe it was my favorite year of high school. But then if I really think about it, there were even more times during freshman year where I was not happy and I wished to be in eighth grade again. It is almost like I use stories to convince myself that those were some of my favorite years, when really I am happier now then I was then. I don't know, it makes more sense in my head I guess. But I do know that stories HELP me to remember. When Dad died seven years ago, I started telling stories about him to anyone who would listen. I still tell the same stories today, and it helps me to keep his memory alive. It is like he lives in the story, and he was never REALLY gone.