Will it Last Forever?

They say that nothing lasts forever. I guess that’s why I feel like family is so important.

It’s with family that we reminisce. We talk about good times and about the good times that we had with family members who are no longer with us. We remember the lessons that they taught us and what they meant to us. We remember that their favorite flower was a pansy and the funny things they’d say. We remember their scent and their knack for a certain recipe that we all loved.

But nothing lasts forever. If no one learns that recipe or bothered to tell the stories about the funny things that they did or the great way that they were always there for us when we were in a pinch or sad, then we say that they’re truly lost to us.

Forgetting is so horrific that it can actually be weaponized. We can threaten to forget people who displease us and we can ACTUALLY forget them when it comes to handing out Christmas gifts and other favors of our time and attention. (Why do you think the Amish “shun” members of their community who commit terrible sins)?

We can forget promises made to family members, which is tantamount to forgetting that person’s importance and value in our life. We can conveniently forget to be helpful or to show loyalty by giving tacit approval to behaviors hurtful to that person.

If a “funny uncle” (actually a cousin, in my case) is invited to a party when those who you trusted to support you know full well that he’s crossed that line of decorum, that is that tacit approval…