Prophetic in it's own way

[FormerOstrich]

I was rummaging around in some old files and found this article I had snipped. I read this not long after my SO son had died at the age of 19. I tucked it away to have my SO read some time later. He had a fabulous son who lived more in his 19 years than many ever will. His father and he were so connected.

I haven't seen the article since I tucked it away. The date on the back indicates 1999 which coincides with my memories of why I retained it. I apologize because I had to scan it folded. I would have edited the picture more but it is late and I've had an incredibly bad day.

The article and photo are....well they are what they are. It is haunting and insanely appropriate read for current times.

Enjoy!


<a href=".html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo Risk.jpg"/></a>

<a href=".html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo img20140913_01023392.jpg"/></a>

[tblue]

1. I found it online.

http://articles.philly.com/1999-07-27/news/25524507_1_maternal-mortality-puritan-17th-century

Love it! It is profoundly thought-provoking. I can see why you kept it.

I am as guilty of risk-aversion as anybody and it is not fun and it's not something I'm especially proud of.

I'm very sorry about your son.

[FormerOstrich]

2. Thank you, tblue.

Plus, thank you for the link. I should have tried to find it myself but got lazy!

However, I would have scanned it anyway because of the picture. The plan is talked about in the text so it really has not context to terrorism. Yet, given how scared we have become and how pivotal 9/11 has played into the fright, the picture is apropos to me.

Plus, thank you for responding. I thought the article would get some attention. I just had one of my dearest friends over and showed her the article. I don't think she understood what I was trying to articulate about it. However, I would have thought she would have liked it, stand alone. Maybe we were just having to much fun for her to think about it.

I should not take my lack of popularity as personal (but I kind of do) but it seems my posts don't have a draw.

:peace:

[tblue37]

6. As a child I read a lot of 19th century novels. In them, young children often

died of illness, so in my inexperience, with my mind shaped by so many 19th century novels, I just assumed that was the way the world worked. I had 5 siblings, and I used to look around at the dinner table and wonder which ones of us would survive past the age of 10. I always figured we'd be lucky if only 2 of us died, but I worried that our parents would lose more than 2--or perhaps even all of us--and I felt so sorry for them.

I was too young to realize how drastically antibiotics had altered the impact of diseases and infections on childhood mortality.

[FormerOstrich]

7. I'm from a long line of readers....

My ancestors were very poor and lived a hard life in rural Missouri (where it is still difficult to eek out a living at times). I have been fortunate in acquiring parts of several estates. There isn't any money in these estates but there are books and more books.

They may have attended school in one room school houses and many didn't have any higher education but it's hard to imagine how they acquired such extensive libraries. My book shelf behind me, as we speak, has volume after volume from the early 1800s forward. There are text books, history books, classics before they were classics. I have the "History of the United States" (and there had only been five Presidents). I have so much respect for them and I hope I at least do right by them. I am afraid I am pale in comparison to them.

My ancestors were poor and proud and had rich lives in ways I can only think I might understand. They were deeply religious which is very difficult to understand. However, I do see how that faith was probably necessary to overcome the dire circumstances they faced.

I know people look for hidden money in old books. I am positive I will never find any. However, some of what I find tucked away in the pages are much more valuable to me. A book mark with scribbles of family genealogy. A letter. An 18xxs Montgomery Ward advertisement. A Well's Fargo policy manual on how the horses will be treated.

Among the old documents and letters are words about still-born, first-born, and children that would never see three. I have letters to home during the civil war. It is sad and haunting. It is hard to imagine I would have had the grit to persevere.

I love my collection. My inheritance may not be valuable in a monetary sense but to me it makes me rich.

[tblue37]

8. Contact university historians! You don't have to give up your treasures, but I bet

a lot of historians would be thrilled to have access to such a treasure trove of primary documents. Seriously--those things are incredibly valuable!

And perhaps consider willing them to a university library when you pass on. Historians nowadays are especially interested in the minutiae of daily life for ordinary people, whereas in the past they were mostly interested in the movers and shakers, the "great men."

[FormerOstrich]

14. After I returned from my annual vacation "back home"...

I thought I needed to share. I was concerned that is seem conceited that I thought others might care about my family but I care about others families and such archives.

So I contacted the White River Historical Society which is in the same county as many of my ancestors and asked if they would be interested in digital copies and perhaps the actual copies of select items when I return next year. They seemed to be thrilled and responded so positively which is why I started scanning.

Now here is the best part of this. I have a Great Aunt which was the best person and influence in my life. She was so ahead of her time. I admired her so much and I love it if any of the family ever mention I might remind them of her. My very first batch of pictures I scanned was a photo made from an original tin type (according to the back of the photo). The photo was developed in 1914 and the tin type it was from 1862.

The museum thought the picture was familiar and tapped their archives. I can't believe my Aunt beat me by so many years. She submitted the picture in 1963. She not only one upped me....she did better yet with a lot more:

http://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/wrv/v1/n10/w63c.htm

I love her so.

[tblue37]

15. Wow. That is so cool. nt

[FormerOstrich]

10. tblue, here is one letter....

This letter is undated but it would have been when Geo began his enlistment. Other letters from him were data 1865. I don't know how much earlier this would have been. It is difficult to read and I can't make it all out. They are so fragile I avoid handling them and scan them in a protective sleeve (they are stored under glass).

I picked this one because it speaks of a child's death. I believe the first paragraph says:

I rec'd your last letter a sprig of Evergreen from the grave of our little May. I was glad you sent it although I need nothing to remind me of her - our first great happiness and first great grief; for greener yet than the moss that grows upon her grave, is the memory I cherish of our first born, child, so early lost. Although years have passed since then, her angel face and loving ways are fresh in my mind, as when I took her for the last time in my arms and laid her in her little narrow bed.

On edit: corrected some typos in the transcription.

"

[tblue37]

11. So poignant. BTW, FYI I am tblue37; tblue is another DUer. we don't know each other IRL,

but on DU we often greet each other as "cuz."

And I assure you, American history specialists would salivate over a collection of such documents.

[FormerOstrich]

17. tblue and tblue37

Great to meet you both. I apologize for inattention to detail on the name.

[tblue37]

18. I think we confuse a lot of people on DU. I just pointed that out below in a post to tblue. nt

[tblue37]

12. Hi, cuz. You know, I think the OP might not realize that we are different persons.

I bet a lot of DUers get us mixed up.

[FormerOstrich]

3. Fragile egos

I'm going to bump my own thread because my pride is always bruised when of the thousands and thousands of DU members only a single member comments.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. "...the projector in our mind burns out its bulb..."

Exactly.

Thank you for this today.

[FormerOstrich]

5. Thank you!

I had hoped it would touch someone besides myself!

[Blue_In_AK]

9. That's a lovely piece.

Thank you for posting it.

[Blue_Tires]

13. Either I'm really drowsy, or I'm not understanding the author's intent...

There's a difference between going for broke, a calculated risk and an unnecessary risk...By all accounts, JFK Jr. took an unnecessary risk (he was a very green pilot flying into conditions he was not qualified to handle)...

I also fail to understand the historical comparisons, since they lack context...Yes, we have safer, healthier and easier lives than people who lived in the 19th century -- Who in turn had safer, healthier and easier lives than the 15th century, and so on down the line...

[FormerOstrich]

16. What I read into and tapped into it in 1999 was entirely different than when I read it last night.

Now it reminds me of what a scared nation we have become and how we miss out on so much.

I thought the article is great and I don't suppose I really had a point as one you are looking for. I like to hear others interpretations and what they take away.

I probably will even view it different when I dig it out again in another 10 or 20 years.

I haven't had a very good week and I am just meandering through the things that make me feel good and invoke thoughts and allows me visit with others, too.

Thank you for your comments, I do appreciate them. I am afraid I can't answer your questions or clarify more than I have said. You have given me some thought for why I might not get as many comments on my threads than I seem to think I should. I appreciate the input.

[FormerOstrich]

19. Don't blame me...because it would seem

I really am from the Beverly Hillbillies....the part of the family that didn't strike black gold and make it to Beverly Hills....