I think I wrote about this a while ago, but it is time for me to revive it in light of my most recent posts.

Every life has meaning. Many of us think we live this dull and boring existence. I can tell you, as a historian, there is no such thing. When I was writing my masters degree thesis, I would have killed to have writings from the mill workers of Lawrence Massachusetts in 1911 to 1912. But I found only a very few in existence. For example, we do not know the name of the woman who started the walk-out at the beginning of the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike. Such a dialogue, had it existed, would be invaluable. Then there are the approximately 30,000 strikers. If I remember correctly, I only found about 6 stories, some from the U.S. House Representatives hearing on the strike, and about 2 verbal memories. My own grandmother was a part of the strike, but we have no record of either which mill she worked in nor of the strike’s effect upon her and her young children.

I always like to recount my story of taking a cross-country trip on AMTRAK from Boston to San Francisco. Somewhere in Ohio an elderly woman got on the train, and I was fortunate enough to be seated across from her in the dining car. I ask what she had done for work, and she responded that it was nothing special. But up a little more prodding from me, she related that she had been a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in southern Ohio. We talked well past the time the last of the diners had left the car. Her story was absolutely fascinating.

The point of these occurrences is that each person is a part of a much larger story. But unfortunately, precious few ever write down their experiences in life as they go along. They forget that things they experience during their lifetime have a shelf-life time that expires. For example, when I was young, all gasoline was pumped by an attendant. It is rare that you find that today. Hence, another part of our history is passing and soon the gas stations themselves will be a rare thing as electric cars take over.

You might say, “well, I’m just a ________ ” and fill in the blank. The thing with that is that your experience is unique because you are unique. There may be 10,000 people doing the same job, but each person’s experience is always different. For example, you may run across a well-known person in doing your job. Historians love to find such experiences as they give a first-hand account of what that person was like at that particular moment. You might also say that you lived in “tornado alley” and had had many experiences with that phenomenon. I have never had such an experience so find out what it is like from the common person is important.

Historians love nothing better than first-hand accounts of just about anything. Today’s scholars write about historical events through the eyes of others. Why cannot that person be you? In doing a writing on the first day of the American Revolution, I came upon a diary of a young boy. His short account of what he said brought a valuable insight. But he referred to that occasion as the beginning of “hostilities” as the idea of a revolution had yet to exist in anyone’s mind.

The best way to keep an account of your life is by journaling. With today’s computer systems, that should be a very easy thing to do. By recounting what you see and hear, you are giving insight to your life at that particular moment in history. The personal accounts of people who lived through Hurricane Katrina, the California wild fires, the Mississippi floods, the 9/11 accounts, the bombing in Oklahoma and so very more, one day, will be extremely valuable for a future writer of history to have that first-hand account.