My Love/Hate Relationship with History

I adore reading a great novel. Lately, I've found myself drawn to historical fiction. I enjoy examining how events impacted the lives of the people living through them. It's fascinating to read a story that includes enormous political and military figures in the background. That's the case with my current book, The Winds of War by Herman Wouk.  The details of European events that led to the US involvement in World War II grab my attention while enriching the fictitious saga.

What I don't understand is why I don't share the same passion for family stories.  When my family gets together, it is inevitable that conversation will ultimately turn to the early years of my parents' marriage.  I've heard these stores forever, but I've never made a connection to them. They center around people and places that had little impact on my world. I quickly become bored and zone out.

Why do I do this? I suppose it's because those stories are the stories of my older siblings and not me. Of course, I understand that these stories are part of my family heritage. It's just that these places and people may as well be fairy tale characters.  I suppose that's part of the reason I don't enjoy the re-tellings; in a way, I become alienated with each repetition.  (I know that's not the intention. I'm not upset. Everyone, calm down!)

There are certain stories that do intrigue me. During the 1960s, my family experienced the National racial divide in a personal way.  I perk up when these stories begin because I have something to connect these tales to.  I try to sort out what was happening on the national scene while these events were playing out in Marianna, Arkansas.  I suppose that this is the one time where my family's stories become part of a greater American heritage.  Because this was an uncomfortable time (and probably requires examining issues they would rather ignore), the stories are mentioned briefly before moving on to happier memories.

I'll continue to listen (as though I have any other choice) and hope that a new story eventually comes to light. Maybe...just maybe....that will be the one that makes me understand my connection in the larger American saga.