Photos keep the faces. Stories keep the people. Ask the stories.
STILLNESS
WHAT THIS MEANS
An image preserves how somebody looked and almost nothing of what they were like. The voice, the opinions, what they said when they were annoyed: none of that is in a photograph, and all of it is still inside the people who can tell you. Faces are easy to keep. Personality has to be handed over on purpose.
Ask for one story this week about a relative you only know from pictures. Ask what they were like to be around rather than what they did. Write the answer down the same day, because you will not keep it as well as you expect.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Whose story have you never actually asked them to tell?
MORE IN TIME, MORTALITY & LEGACY
- Your dog’s life is a lot shorter than yours. Take the extra walk.
- Nobody picks the rough year. A lot of people still look back and call it the year they figured out what they were made…
- Don’t wait for the perfect big gesture to tell people they matter. Small, regular and on time beats big and too late.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.