preserving history

i mentioned a bit ago that i was taking a free seminar at our town's university. one of the books that we've been assigned is daniel mendelsohn's the lost. in the book, daniel goes on a search to find out how his jewish great uncle, aunt and their four daughters died in poland during the holocaust. during this search, he ends up learning not only how they died, but also a whole lot about how they (and others in their small town) lived during that time.

of all the books we've read for the class, this one has so far been my favorite. i have always found family history and family myths to be quite an interesting interesting subject, so the book was already right up my alley. plus, i really enjoyed mendelsohn's classical way of telling a story by weaving through various tangential topics, eventually leading to some point or found fact. it's totally fascinating. i highly recommend the read. however, i should note that there are some really horrific depictions of what happened to the people in the town, many of which will be permanently ingrained in my memory.

because of this book, though, i've been giving a lot of thought to how all of us (or, rather, most of us) will eventually be forgotten. all of our stories will eventually just fade away, just as the majority of those who went before us have faded. it seems very fitting to the cycle of life, yet at the same time, it really makes me sad.

so it was very fitting that today i received an email from my brother about a family website that he and another relative have started for my mother's family. it's totally interesting and they did a great job!

it's an interesting way, i think, to preserve history and to continue the telling of stories. won't it be interesting to see what happens to the web (and all our stories on it) when our children's children are coming up?