history our savior

Lisa Gross

History, Our Savior


Manipulation is the key to many peoples life. Without manipulations life wouldn’t be so fluffy. Without manipulation how would stories hold the test of time? How would religion spread from era to era? How would families stay strong if it weren’t for the small encouragement of manipulation? One can choose to believe and learn from history or not. By learning from history one can change their future actions accordingly. On the other hand one can choose to understand its history, plain and simple then forget about it. Forgetting the past may seem to be the only option. Forgetting the past may ease the pain temporally but in the end the past may be the only thing that can save you. This can hold true for every situation, say an epic love story, a struggle to keep a family together or a struggle to keep your own identity.

In love there is no justice. Their eyes meet across the room and from that day on they will have a constant pain. A constant ache of the final puzzle piece to their existence, as they know it. Tomorrow you can wake and she’ll be gone only because your voice rose during your last discussion. For instance in the film Eternal Sunshine For The Spotless Mind the main character, Joel reacts immediately to meeting Clementine with a need to distance him. This fear comes from a place that you can only dream of getting rid on you’ve been in past relationship before and this scar of those who have left leave a deep scab. An easy healing process to such an experience could be to just forget it. Any living human can tell you this just wont work. One can only lie to them for so long. Admitting to yourself that heartaches will happen and will map out the next move of your life is the only way to heal that scab.
When one is asked about heartache this first thing that comes to mind is a cheesy pop artist winning because as painful as it maybe its easier to deal with then being hurt by ones own blood line. Family is ones strongest connection to the world regardless of the relationship on the surface. History can mold a family; history can cause a family to stay together just because theses stories have told them to stay together for all time. Fighting that history is an easy way to get away from the pain. The only thing to do is to hold on to that pain a little tighter and realize where that coming from. That pain will set you for the rest of ones life. Whether the people who watch one separate from ones history call you a “rotten fruit” like in Still Life For Rice or a free spirit which may be easier to take in, it’ll still hit with the same sharp dagger of regret. Regret that you didn’t hold on tight to that branch of your family tree. For example, in Still Life Of Rice Helie Lee tries her hardest to undo the distance she has created between herself and her family, her original culture and history. She chooses to relive her grandmother’s story in order to make up for lost time. Through her grandmother’s stories Helie is able to learn how ones past makes them the strong person you may or may not look up to. Ones history if the foundation to any life and that history is only found weaved into and in between your family’s web.

There’s always just the individual who is greatly affected by their history. It cans kind of take over for a while if you let it. I know for my point of view I was adopted and off and on that will shake my world. I was adopted into a very religious family who believe very strongly in their history and my connection is purely formed by my families love for the religion and history that comes along with it. None of my connections really felt solid or genuine. That is until I finally decided to take it upon myself and learn as much as I could from those who I originally came from. So far I only know that I come from an Irish, Scottish and German background. Beyond that I don’t know many specifics about my original parent but through my geographical background I can understand my light skin and love for winter. Little by little I will find out more and be able to connect it to my life now the life I was given after my adoption. Through these little details of my origin I can have a firmer understand of why I am where I am. My history is constantly coming together for me and making me feel more and more comfortable with every step I make.