This article won’t make you money. It won’t grow your business and it isn’t the NEXT BIG THING. Instead, we are taking a step back and giving you a chance to record your own family history for future generations. Michelle Woo of Lifehacker is my inspiration for this post. Check out her full article here.
Why you should interview your family members:
- your family, especially the elderly ones, have a vast library of knowledge inside their heads . . .here’s your chance to share some of it with others
- this exercise gives you a reason to speak to your family at Thanksgiving . . .something we all struggle with
- when your family is gone, these stories are gone as well . . .often, we can’t remember the stories our family tells and our telling isn’t as powerful as the original storyteller
Have some questions prepared, but let the conversation flow. Try and center the stories around events in history or events that are important to your family. For example, my grandmothers have some awe-inspiring stories from World War II and the work Americans accomplished on the home front. You can use your smart phone voice recording software.
StoryCorps is a company that created a project to record and archive vast amount of personal family stories and other interesting content. This project is titled The Great Thanksgiving Listen. Check out the website and consider using their software to records your interviews.
Don’t forget to interview some of your younger relatives as well. The young and old alike can help provide us with interesting perspectives on life and history. In a world where we are quick to disagree, sometimes listening can provide us with the best results.
Interview your family. Avoid politics. Rational people learn from history and preserve it. Stay rational this Thanksgiving.
-B&T