A Brief Reflection on Remembering
Back in 2022 I became obsessed with a twentieth century historian by the name of Tony Judt. In January of that year I came across an Atlantic article written by a journalist that I respect very much, and upon reading this article I immediately thought that Judt was someone I should check out. The first book of his that I read was a series of essays that had been published over many years before his death of ALS in 2010. I was immediately hooked. Throughout 2022 I read (without exaggeration) thousands of pages of his work. (I think Charissa became quite annoyed with me always talking about him.) It was not only the things that he was writing about that fascinated me, it was also the way that he wrote about them. He was relentless in revealing hard truths about the European (and sometimes American) twentieth century, never giving into cliché, triumphalism, or palatable flattened history.
One of the many lessons that I learned from Judt is the way that we can often forget the lessons of our past. History is so rich with lessons to be learned, but we are also so quick to forget those lessons. One of the arguments that he makes several times in his career is the way the we have forgotten the lessons learned from the postwar era. And, that many of the solutions to the problems of that era worked so well, that we are beginning to undermine our own memories and tell ourselves ‘it wasn’t so bad, we should go back to that time’ without remembering all the ways that the postwar era was dehumanizing to so many, and the struggles of our parents and grandparents generations. How quick we are to forget!
Remembering is such an important part of who we are as individuals, as a people, and especially as a church. In fact, remembering is one of the central themes of our liturgies. In reading the scriptures we remember what God has done in the past. In the confession of sin, we remember the ways that we have wronged God and others and ask for forgiveness. In the Prayers of the People we remember those who we pray for, including those loved ones who have died. And in the Eucharist, we remember Christ’s death and resurrection and with the whole host of saints who have come before us, partake of the same body and blood of Christ they also consumed.
It is easy in our everyday lives to not consider where we have come from. Our vision can become myopic and only focused on what is in front of us. But this kind of myopathy separates us from those traditions and people who have come before and ignores the struggles that they have endured in order for us to be in the place where we are. Whereas memory connects us. When I get together with old friends the first thing we do is remember the ‘good ‘ol days.’ I guess the point of my ramblings this week is, don’t forget to remember.
For a recent article I wrote on memory and history as ethics of institutions where I spend some time reflecting on Judt, go here.