Memory

Shared memories can open up windows into broad horizons. Even when the memories are painful, or contradictory, the willingness to talk about them creates a space for wholeness. Or at least a different perspective. If left unspoken hurtful scenes may board up bitterness and destruction closing off any fresh air.

The movie Green Dragon depicts the story of Vietnamese refugees after the fall of Saigon. Crowded into army tents and Quonset huts the assortment of survivors covered a broad spectrum: young and old, civilian and army, educated professionals and laborers. And across that divide were religious, political and economic stratas, now all together experiencing a common grief from their individual sorrow. In the movie there is at first a stoic silence, even within a family unit. No one is willing to share. Bit by bit the numbness eases. One day a man takes out his instrument and begins to sing a national song, and the camp quiets into listening and then gradually adds their voices and their tears.

This common ground, experienced through a beloved song, drew them together in memory. And as they began to share with each other their escapes, their fears, their losses, they took steps towards a new horizon.

Journal Prompt

Choose a situation for your character with a sibling or friend where they have opposite emotional memories, one positive and one negative.

Write up a page of dialogue between them as they remember.