Making Their Stories Known: Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

If you’re reading this, you are most likely a kind family member or friend, wondering what silly thing McKall is up to next, being loving enough to take a couple minutes of your precious time to show support in reading a personal (and probably incoherently written) blog post. Or perhaps, though less likely, you are a stranger, stumbling upon this blog during a time when you’re waiting for your car to get fixed, and you have nothing better to do than surf the web. Either way, I’m glad you’re here, and knowing that in this day and age of fast food and technology, every person's attention span is becoming increasingly short, I'll get right to the point.

Who likes a good story? I certainly do! Some of my favorite childhood memories include listening as my mom read books to us (especially historical fiction), and curling up on my bed reading anything by my beloved Jane Austen. I recently realized that stories are the reason I love being a historian and why I love acting! Anyone who doesn't like stories, whether told through books, movies, theater, or any other way, is probably just, well, crazy! I say that only because I have never met anyone who doesn't like stories (and the minute I do I will retract everything I have just said).

But the point of it all is that there is something in us that just loves hearing about other’s lives, whether they be historical or fiction. And so my question today is, why is that so? While it obviously has something to do with the fact that we as people love to be entertained, I believe there is more to it.

The Irish-English statesman Edmund Burke once said:

“Under a pious predilection for those ancestors, your imaginations would have realized in them a standard of virtue and wisdom beyond the vulgar practice of the hour; and you would have risen with the example to whose imitation you aspired. Respecting your forefathers, you would have been taught to respect yourselves.”(1)

From the first time I heard this quote, at least twelve years ago, I’ve never been able to forget it. In some sense, it has directed my life up to this point. I have come to realize there are some lessons, vital to our very existence, that we can only discover in learning about the lives of those of the past. I think it is how we each make sense of the present and the future.

I have come to see that people, places and even things, all have their own stories and those stories deserve to be told. For the past ten or so years I have felt very strongly that for some reason I need to be the one to tell some of these stories. And for the past year, this idea of creating a blog where I can show others what I write has been so strong that I haven’t been able to ignore it, try as I might. While I have always loved to write and tell stories, the thought of anyone beyond my own immediate family circle seeing my writing has filled me with much fear and trepidation, to say the least. That is one of the reasons I have postponed publishing this post for the last four plus months! These people, places and their stories have become my friends, and the thought of displaying them for others to see through a window of my creation is daunting.

While I don’t know exactly how this will play out, my intent is to capture some of those stories and share them here with you. Fair warning though, I am definitely an amateur historian and not an accomplished writer. In fact, while I might try to write a story in third person here and there (so I can have practice in writing that way), it will probably happen that my first person voice will often leak through. What can I say, I like storytelling! And that is easier for me to do in first person.

A disclaimer: History is partly made up of a host of differing perspectives. The way I see this best is in the example of people witnessing an accident occur from two different sides of the road. When they give each their report of what happened, there will probably be different things brought up as well as things left out in each person’s report. However, each feels that they saw exactly what happened, and they did, just from different viewpoints. One person’s view does not necessarily make the other’s view invalid. So, if by chance my view of history happens to be on a different side of the road from yours, I am always happy to learn about the other side of the road. But, at the same time, recognize that they may be times when we may have to agree to be on different sides of the road :)

That being said, I also believe that there are times where truth is truth, no matter the popular opinions of the day, and I hope to make that my focus in all that I write.

Also, another disclaimer. I have a lot of historical heroes, and it may often happen that the heroic tone will come through my writing. However, I still believe my heroes to be normal people and I want to write about what really happened as best as I can, the good, bad and the ugly ;)

One last thing, not that anyone will be hanging on every story and waiting for me to publish a new post (the very thought is hilarious! You all have much better things to do with your time!), between work, family, church, grad school applications, and relaxing time (so that I only go semi-insane), I'm not actually sure how often I'll get to write posts (and quality posts for that matter). Who knows if I'll even ever find time to write another post after this one. This was merely an attempt to follow through with an idea I've had for awhile and push myself to overcome some of my fears of writing, as well as to give myself more opportunities of practicing.

All in all, what I'm really trying to say with all of these messy words, is that if you're ever in need of a good story, stop by my blog and we can have a nice cozy chat, or curl up with a good story on a rainy day.

Yours very sincerely,

                                      McKall

P.S. Suggestions, editing, corrections etc, are all accepted. I recognize that my writing needs all the help it can get. Also, if you have any story and research ideas for me I'm all ears. I’d love to do research and write about people, places, events and things that others specifically want to know more about! Just email me at makingtheirstoriesknown@gmail.com, or fill out the form on the right.

(1)Edmund Burke, "Reflections on the Revolution in France," February 26, 2014, The University of Adelaide Library, accessed November 08, 2018, https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/burke/edmund/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/.