The Healing Power of Stories Cover Photo – NTPA Reunion 2015. Caption: The National Timberwolf Pups Association Reunion 2015. Photo courtesy of author. At the end of August, I traveled to New Orleans to give a World War II research seminar at the 104th National Timberwolf Pups Association World War II Reunion. The 104th Infantry Division fought in Europe during World War II. About two weeks prior to the trip, I was asked to fill in for a speaker who was unable to attend the Saturday morning General Meeting at the reunion. I was asked to speak on the importance of researching World War II service for about 15-20 minutes. The speech I wrote ended up combining research and storytelling. When I finished writing the speech, I felt many people …show more content…
It exists forever in our hearts as we remember and honor those who have gone before us. Through those memories we pass life lessons on to the next generation. We teach others there is light after darkness, hope after despair, and love is the glue that puts shattered hearts back together. This is a story of five hearts separated by time and space; hearts which would meet in the perfect moment. It is a story about never ending love that lived on even after death. A famous pilot met a young beauty and the two fell in love, Robert and Ginny. Their love soared with the eagles. Their time together was brief but they lived so fully in love in the moment, it is as if nothing but death could have broken them apart. Then death knocked on their door and a plane fell from the sky in a fiery ball. One heart silenced on earth but lived forever in death. One heart shattered into a million pieces. A year later on another continent, two brothers fought a war, Harvey and Fred. The boys grew up as orphans and wanted a heart to come home to. Fred flew a bombing mission over Austria and was lost, listed as missing for a year. Harvey feared the worst and waited for word which came a year after Fred went missing. A brother’s love lived on after
Through the various misconceptions of the children in her short story, "The Brother in Vietnam," Maxine Hong Kingston allows her reader to see just how necessary truth is to the vulnerable minds of our youth.
Love can come at unexpected times, through current situations or through memories, and they will always have that permanent effect on us, just like a tattoo. Because of strange stanza breaks, unusual imagery, and elongated punctuation, the reader can determine the deeper meaning of the poem. The two-lined stanzas signify short-lived loves, and the stanza breaks depict the break-ups and passing of loved ones. The imagery of skulls and the metaphor that love is a tattoo shows that love never deteriorates. And lastly, the poem is only two sentences long, so this shows the fluidity and never ending power of love. Too often people take advantage of love, but what they aren’t aware of is that their experiences with each and every person they have loved tattoo their mind to make them into who they are, much like a tattoo permanently inks one’s skin to commemorate a
Biologically and emotionally, our hearts are more complex than many of us are aware of. They pump blood throughout our body, let us feel emotions, and is unrestrained to a multitude of possibilities. Brian Doyle in his essay “Joyas Voladoras” states “so much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment” to explain the numerous feelings the heart constantly expresses in every human and animal’s body. It can go from feeling love and happiness to sadness and despair within seconds. With the use of this essay, Doyle is conveying to his readers the immense possibilities of emotions that all of our hearts can hold.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. It is a story that explores all
There exists no power as inexplicable as that of love. Love cannot be described in a traditional fashion; it is something that must be experienced in order for one to truly grasp its full enormity. It is the one emotion that can lead human beings to perform acts they are not usually capable of and to make sacrifices with no thought of the outcome or repercussions. Though love is full of unanswered questions and indescribable emotions, one of the most mystifying aspects of love is its timeless nature. Love is the one emotion, unlike superficial sentiments such as lust or jealousy, which can survive for years, or even generations. In the novel The Gargoyle, the author, Andrew Davidson, explores the idea of eternal love between two people, a union that spans over centuries spent both together and apart. Davidson, through the use of flashbacks, intricate plot development and foreshadowing, and dynamic characterization, creates a story that challenges the reader’s preconceived notions regarding whether eternal love can survive even when time’s inevitable grasp separates the individuals in question.
Although their love has endured through many years, it has come to an end in the story. All throughout the story the couple is reminiscing about their life and while they are there are some odd details that are strewn throughout.
It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen.” -pg. 85
In the story “Home Soil” by Irene Zabytko, the reader is enlightened about a boy who was mentally and emotionally drained from the horrifying experiences of war. The father in the story knows exactly what the boy is going through, but he cannot help him, because everyone encounters his or her own recollection of war. “When their faces are contorted from sucking the cigarette, there is an unmistakable shadow of vulnerability and fear of living. That gesture and stance are more eloquent than the blood and guts war stories men spew over their beers” (Zabytko 492). The father, as a young man, was forced to reenact some of the same obligations, yet the father has learne...
The meeting of a long but not forgotten friend can make you feel so excited you can't keep a smile off your face. The short story by John Cheever "reunion" is about a son meeting his father for the first time in 3 years. The shortcomings of a person having preconceived notions of how a person has evolved can be traumatic. I too had a similar situation with an old friend from high school just recently.
The Lost Boys of Sudan are a group of refugee children that abandoned their home country of Sudan to escape from the religious civil war. This war displaced thousands of people, and generated children to walk hundreds of miles to a refugee camp in Kenya. Although many stayed, these children took an enormous risk that would mean safety. They advanced through the blistering heat, without water and hunted for their food, occasionally stealing
Everyone has been hurt by loves sweet embrace. The memories that are left behind can haunt us everyday. The music, dreams, smells, a name, or a rose can strike up memories of ones love lost. But when love leaves you alone, the memories and the ghosts of love are never gone. There is always something to trigger thoughs memories bad or good. Something that needs to be known about the poem is that it was written impromptu in a visiting card.
Love can be described as the lustful tension between two beings, or the bond that one shares with family and friends. Both of these are expressly shown in the tragedy. Both also containing similar, yet starkly different characteristics. In all, the concept of love is a great
The Human Library is an event sponsored by Lone Star college that brings in people who have lived unique lives and been in involved in different things. There were many different individuals from different fields who were available to be interviewed, but I was mainly interested in the military veterans. There were veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and the War in Iraq. I chose to interview Specialist Kyle Smith who was a pilot first class in Iraq. Kyle was one of the youngest people there and was very interesting to talk to. He mainly walked the group through the training procedures for the army, which was very fun to listen to.
One day, adolescent George, his younger brother Harry, and their friends had all gone sledding. Harry was not able to stop the sled, and slid into an icy cold pool of water. Thinking fast, George had heroically helped save him from the deadly water. George finally realized how he saved his brother’s life while gloomily staring at his grave, being informed by his optimistic guardian angel, Clarence, that all the soldiers Harry had saved in the air force died as well. Without George, his brother Harry, and the servicemen Harry had rescued, would’ve all met a tragic death, which George failed to
Love wakes men, once a lifetime each; they lift their heavy lids, and look; And lo, what one sweet page can teach, they read with joy, then shut the book. And some give thanks, and some blaspheme and most forget; but, either way, That and the Child’s unheeded dream Is the light of all their day. (Patmore, 1973).