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Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 4338 Registered: 11-1998 |
Honorable Mention a quality of honesty Frank Faust my people are fundamentally secretive or so it has always seemed to me and I have played my part keeping the hardest moments hidden clutched tightly known to as few as possible in a close family it is an art and a burden to keep those things that mean the most a private affair my aunt is almost a stranger a visitor from another country and I am essentially honest so when she asked I answered with hand signals and body gestures to supplement broken language skills I told her of illnesses and partial recoveries of starting a new life and finding joy I spoke of confused feelings lingering hurt felt mostly in darkness of doubts and nagging regret a chasm that seems to exist between the sensations of my heart and the workings of my head of an abiding sensation of guilt that I was not sufficient for the tasks set for me of resignation and sadness then she told me of her children my cousins of her grandchildren growing up in these strange new times of the fear that comes with such change and the inability of strong people who have managed their lives to influence things for the better her story was an upbeat of hope as the troubled young somehow find their way experiencing more in just a handful of minutes on this earth than a previous generation of survivors could ever imagine possible and she spoke of pride a feeling of awe at the strength of these new battlers in a different world later my mother said she had never heard these tales of the family of my aunt all had been kept private beyond the thinnest of rumours she was bemused perhaps it is a quality of honesty to beget empathy an openness emerging with the occasional knowledge that we are not alone in struggle perhaps it is that a story shared requires a story shared but my family are secretive and I do not expect to hear many such tales ~ |
