What’s Past is Prologue (W. Shakespeare, The Tempest, 1610-11)

We all have stories to tell, knowledge and experiences to share, and advice to offer. The longer we live, the greater the supply, generally speaking. For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about history as a means of making sense of what is happening today. When I turned 10, I remember my mother, may she rest in peace, taking me to a Native American burial ground that was under excavation in my home state of Delaware. (I was so excited that I even thought about becoming an archaeologist for a short time.) I wanted to know who those people were, how they lived, and what happened to them.

As I grew older, I began to fill in some of the gaps. I studied US and European history at university and continued to read articles and books about history in my free time. Later in my career, I was a primary researcher on a US Department of Education-funded project in Germany, Japan, and the US. In my work in Germany and the US, I focused on national standards. Aside from collecting and analyzing documents, I interviewed countless students, teachers, and administrators in Frankfurt, Munich, and Leipzig in the former East Germany. I had the chance to speak with people from many different walks of life.

Fast forward to my life in Vietnam. It was during the pandemic when I thought of asking my father-in-law, a retired surgeon from northern Vietnam, if he would be interested in writing a short autobiography. He quickly agreed, and spent two whole weeks doing exactly that. The result was a slender self-published volume entitled simply Phạm Quang Đăng – Tự Truyện (his name – an autobiography) about growing up in northern Vietnam, his time as a medical student, his work as a surgeon in Vietnam, Algeria, and Cambodia, and his personal life, including his marriage and family of six daughters born from 1963 to 1977. He also included photos from various periods of his life. I think he appreciated the fact that someone, in this case a foreign son-in-law, thought his life experience was valuable enough to record and share during his lifetime and for the benefit of future generations.

Born in 1938, Phạm Quang Đăng experienced the French colonial era, the US war, and the reunification of his country, an eyewitness to history in the making. His autobiography has become part of his legacy. Imagine if we could multiply this experience by thousands or tens of thousands of individuals in every country on earth.

Most people enjoy talking about their lives. For those who are not inclined to write, someone could act as an editor to improve the quality of the text – with the approval of the author. Another option is a ghostwritten manuscript based on interviews. A valuable supplement would be videotaped interviews that expand upon the written word and fill in gaps, in addition to bringing the subjects to life through the power of audio and video.

In the US there’s a nonprofit called StoryCorps, founded in 2003, that does all of this. Its mission is “to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. We do this to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters. At the same time, we are creating an invaluable archive for future generations.”

StoryCorps could either create different country pages, ideally with non-English language text translated into English and videos subtitled accordingly. (I understand that funding is usually an issue with nonprofits.) Or its work could be replicated in Vietnam and other countries.

Shalom (שלום), MAA