“Without memory, mankind’s image of itself would be impoverished . . . ‘Memory’ is the key word. To remember it to create links between past and present, between past and future. To remember is to affirm man’s faith in humanity and to convey meaning on our fleeting endeavors.”
Elie Wiesel, From the Kingdom of Memory, 1990, p. 194
“In my memory of the other’s transgression, the other is locked in un-redemption and we are bound together in a relationship of non-reconciliation. The memory of the wrong suffered is also a source of my own non-redemption. As long as it is remembered, the past in not just the past; it remains an aspect of the present . . . . The memory of sin must be kept alive for a while, as long as it is needed for repentance and transformation to occur. But then it must be let die, so that the fractured relationship may be fully healed. The memory of the offense, sustained beyond repentance, clouds both the memory of past love and the vision of future reconciliation” (Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace, 1996, p. 133 & 137).
Remember: a community that does not come to terms with the dead will find that the dead continue to perturb and traumatize the living. Reconciliation can be achieved through memory. Memory restores absence to presence and the dead to the living. Does it also involve pain? I welcome it. I think of the children – walking slowly
Peace, dwight
