A Shoebox of Memories_1650

owthylvzx · Wysłany: Pią 11:37, 25 Mar 2011 Temat postu: A Shoebox of Memories_1650

In this day and age it is easy to be jaded about the things going on around us. With our own problems to deal with - bills, taxes, insurance payments, we seem to forget or try to overlook the bigger problems that the world faces.
As we seek to insulate ourselves from the issues surrounding our community, our state, our nation, we inevitably get drawn to them.
We seek out avenues that will help us forget, albeit temporarily, our cares and the world's affairs through TV, films, sports and recreation, etc. But somehow the issues we turn away from gets back at us through the same channels we turned on to avoid them. A case in point, a month ago American Idol hosted 'Idol Gives Back," a concert cum fund raising slash charitable event. Admit it or not, most of us watch Idol not because we want to be reminded about the famine in Africa, poverty in America, etc. We watch it because for two hours we get to forget all worldly cares and problems.
Idol Gives Back was a boomerang. It's most poignant moment, and there were many, was one involving U2 front man Bono's visit to Africa. In a scene, Bono was talking to a child clutching a shoe box. A "Memory Box," the small cardboard package contained mementos of the boy's parents who both succumbed to AIDS. The child showed it contained a rosary, a picture of his mother and a piece of paper. These were all that had reminded him of his parents.
Traditionally, hospitals provide a memory box in cases involving stillbirth or miscarriage and contain various objects belonging to the deceased child. This was to help the grieving mothers deal with their children's deaths.
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) initiated a similar practice for parents dying with AIDS. To help lessen the trauma, mothers make a treasure chest of family photographs, letters, stories and history that will allow them to communicate with their children after their death.
As I watched Bono's interaction with the orphaned child, a tear rolled down my cheek. Because, before I tuned in all I was looking forward to were the performances. And that child, with a shoebox in his hand, reminded me how jaded I have become to the sufferings of humanity. And I'm sure I was not alone during that moment.
As I write this down, I think of that shoebox and what it really represents. A mother's life memories may be stored there; a reminder of her legacy to her children. But in a global sense, it could also represent mankind's indifference to the AIDS epidemic. The more memory boxes are made could mean the more jaded we have become.
For us, Halloween was here. Some of the older folks were concerned about tomorrow night, which was really Halloween night. We had been told, "Tomorrow night you are not leaving this house." The story was the same with all of us. There was a conspiracy among the older folks. They had it in their heads to spoil our tricking, but our plans were already made,Police sunglasses, and we had taken what our folks had said into account. We would do our tricking on this night, the night before Halloween and forget about the treats of tomorrow night.Our plan was for all of us to get out of the house as quickly as we could after supper. If your folks raised suspicions, then you were to sneak out before supper. After all, what is a meal missed when the fun of Halloween was about to begin?
Just before supper, Wizzer gave our signal then hollered for me from outside the kitchen door just like we had planned. Mom never could say no to Wizzer. I had never told Wizzer about this, but one day I had heard Mom say that she felt sorry for him, what with him being a change of life baby and all. It wasn't my intent to spy on her. This particular conversation was overheard at one of her gabfests with her friend Julia. I was only trying to do what I had been trying to do with no luck at all for as long as I could remember. Namely, it was to see Mrs. Wetzel sleeping and doing something that took some watching and being careful. Just now, they was pitting and peeling peaches and getting them ready for canning.