Historical Perspective

By:Anissa Stringer

Scrapbooking is one of the most important things that individuals can do for future generations. It provides a historical perspective that is unprecidented. For the first time in history, individuals have access to products that are made specifically for documenting our lives and there is a focus on recording information about all aspects of our lives for the future.

Considering that we live in a time where individual interaction is minimal, there are not many other ways that we can learn about our anscestors. We no longer live in close knit communities where our neighbors can tell us what our deceased relatives were like -what they thought was funny, what they did as children, or how they would have dealt with difficult situations. We don't even have many opportunities to chat with others in our communities. We use ATM machines to get money from the bank rather than going in and talking to a teller. We drive through McDonald's instead of walking into a restaurant and talking directly with a wait person. And often we don't even get to talk to a live person over the phone when we call companies for information. Instead we dial our way through the options on answering programs.

Scrapbooking allows us to slow down and put the focus of our lives back where it should be -on our families and loved ones. It gives us the opportunity to document our family history, traditions and funny stories. We also learn things about the person who does the scrapbooking indirectly if they do not document much about themselves. We can get a sense of their personality by the colors and designs they choose. We learn about their view of life in how they journal about an event. And if we are lucky, we may get a glimpse of the continuity of our families when we see the similarities in handwriting, phrases and maybe even appearace that show up in our scrapbooks.

Most people seem to have an interest in learning about their family's history. Scrapbooking provides that information, and so much more! What a gift we are giving our children and their descendants by working so hard on our scrapbooks!

Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: why do i love scrapbooking?, by skogy, Burnsville, Mn