I got a really special Christmas gift last year. It was so special that I decided to save it and sit down with it when I had enough time to really go through it. January and February passed quickly and now, with Jochem spending March in the Netherlands I decided to sit down with my precious gift. For the last five years my dad has written a book – his memoires.
In this book, given to my sister and me, we get the family history told by our father and it puts a life full of memories, both good and bad once, in a historic perspective. It is a wonderful book that has made me both laugh and cry while reading it and led to many discussions with friends and colleagues. We live in times where we often talk about technological frog jumps and that we are part of some major knowledge shift (where changes happen over night). Reading about how society has changed in the last 100 years I wonder if the changes we are now facing will change society as much as the changes that occurred in the last century (at least in Sweden). The core values - the values that defines a culture and how we think we should act within it - has changed dramatically in the last 100 years including increased emancipation, diversity, an acceptance of critical thinking, acceptance towards challenging set ideas etc. Life was not better in the old days and not everything is better now. I think my dad has had a wonderful life in many ways and has enjoyed it a lot. I think we are all products of the world we live in and I come from a family with a humanistic view on life. My parents have lived through changing paradigms and been able to adjust to these changes and embraced them. This they have passed on to Hanna and I and what better gift could we get!
Reading a story filled with well know characters whom I feel connected to is something special. It is emotional in many ways as I see my spot in a history that started long before I arrived in this world and this story will not end when I pass on. Ingrid, Elsa and Nils chapter is only beginning. I also see much resemblance between my father and me. I have been given a wonderful gift!
