Poet and genealogist Pam Harazim once wrote a poem that has haunted me for years. Its title is simple enough: “Strangers in the Box.” Along with the verses, there’s usually a photo like the one shown here; you probably have somewhere buried in a closet, an attic or the basement, a shoebox EXACTLY like it. I do. When I published my first book of memories for my family in 2009, I had dozens of ancient photographs, many more than 100 years ago, without names or descriptions of any kind. Who were these people? One bore a striking resemblance to members of my family. She must have been a great-grandmother or an aunt or cousin. I had no idea who she was. There was no caption on the back, She was, without a doubt, a stranger in the box. It’s because of these strangers, yours and mine, that I have published my little guidebook, “Bring Your Memoir to Life in 6 Weeks.” As Pam reminds us in the first line of her last stanza, “Make time to save your picture, I would like to revise it to read, “Take time to leave your story…” The lives we are leading today–filled with challenges, problems, joys and tragedies–could be of benefit to someone, someday, if we just take the time to share our experiences while we still have the chance. Whether you take advantage of my offer, or find some other incentive to finish your story, just do it. Everybody has a story to tell. Don’t part company with your loved ones until you leave them with some valuable food for thought> Here’s Pam’s poem—I hope it gets you thinking.
Come, look with me inside this drawer,
In this box I’ve often seen
At the pictures, black and white,
Faces proud, still and serene.
I wish I knew the people,
These strangers in the box
Their names and all their memories,
Are lost among the sox.
I wonder what their lives were like,
How did they spend their days,
What about their special times,
I’ll never know their ways.
If someone had taken the time
To tell who, what and when.
Those faces of my heritage
Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate
of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories
Someday to be tossed away.
Make time to save your picture.
Seize opportunity when it knocks.
Or someday you and yours could be
The strangers in the box.
GM JARRARD