Our son gave us a digital picture frame for Christmas. This modern device replaces many photos in old albums and boxes on our shelves. The technology is amazing. We can add digitized photographs to a constant slideshow that we watch from our easy chairs. Our children add photographs from their phones remotely. We can view each image and remember pleasant scenes and good people. More than three hundred images have already been uploaded.
We have been going through dusty old boxes that have not been opened for decades. They contain images of family, colleagues, and scenes that emerge from dusty resting places, almost like a resurrection of people, places and things. I give thanks for those continued positive influence on my life.
Remembering pleasant experiences from the past is good. A common phrase is that we ‘know things by heart.’ It signifies that the most important memories are kept down close in our hearts, not just in our heads. Those we know by heart are aspects of our lives that keep us moving forward. They inspire hope and faith in the future fueled by memory.
I don’t want to be reminded of traumatic experiences. Fortunately, we don’t often take photographs or preserve images of moments of our failure, embarrassment, ineptitude, pain, or sin. Dwelling on the ugly aspects of the past is not helpful or lifegiving. We have enough difficulty avoiding the unpleasant events bombarding us through the media every day.
Reflection on viewing the images across the room lead me to several conclusions about picture taking and preservation.
People are important, not images of scenery, objects, or even events. Memories of people are lifegiving. Even photographs of great beauty or locations are of lasting significance when associated with people. The photograph of a beautiful sunset across the bay in Maine I know by heart because it was taken from the cabin where our entire family celebrated our sixtieth wedding anniversary. The cell in Robbin Island Prison reminds us that Nelson Mandela lived in that cell for eighteen years as a political prisoner for opposing apartheid in South Africa.
We see many people holding their cameras above their heads and thereby viewing important people or events only through the tiny viewfinder. They miss experiencing fully the real event that is happening right before their eyes. Don’t make that mistake. Absorb the good in the present! It will enrich your life.
Because digital photographs don’t cost anything, we snap too many copies of trivial and ephemeral scenes. We should exercise discipline at the front end when taking photographs, so we won’t need to spend hours years later trying to remember the scene and its significance.
I life up my eyes regularly to look across the room and ponder digital images that embody pleasant memories and stories. I am filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessings of travel through many countries, shared explorations with family, meetings with interesting people, and being surrounded by beauty and beautiful people. That’s the life — past, present, and leaning toward the future with hope.
Raymond Brady Williams, Crawfordsville, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities emeritus, contributed this guest column.
