Stories in Pictures
Somewhere in the midst of storms, voluntary evacuation, and quick trips back to our property to grab what we needed, I grabbed the wrong book. I did my reading and wrote my blog post on our flight home. I went to post last night and realized that the book I grabbed was Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, not Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Lieberman. Oops! At the encouragement of some of my fellow cohort, I am posting my Kahneman, not Lieberman blog post.
I love stories. I love to read, to go to the movies, to go to the theater, or to engage in stories. Jesus told stories to teach. The Bible is filled with the stories of the people of God. Stories matter. It is not surprising that when looking through Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and wanting to find new insight to this book we read last semester, I was intrigued by chapter 36, “Life as a Story.”[1]
Kahneman writes, “The frenetic picture taking of many tourists suggests that storing memories is often an important goal, which shapes both the plans for the vacation and the experience of it.”[2] Having just returned home from Walt Disney World, I can attest to the veracity of this statement. It can be easy to get so caught up in trying to get the perfect picture that you miss out on the important moments. I spent the week with my best friend, and we did take many pictures. I think, however, we managed to find a balance between taking pictures and simply being with one another. One of my favorite things to do at Disney World is to bring things I have made to give away. I have many pictures of times when I have given a Cast Member or park goer a gift that I have made, but even more instances where it would have detracted from the moment to pause and take a picture.
Why do we strive so hard to take that perfect picture? I think it is because the pictures help us to remember, they spark our memory. Pictures bring to the forefront of our mind the events that took place. One of my earliest memories is of getting a Donald Duck nightlight as a gift. My mother has a photograph of me holding it with a huge smile on my face. Seeing this picture sparks the memory of that event in my life.
Kahneman goes on to talk about “Amnesic Vacations.” He poses the question of how you would respond if you knew you would not remember your vacation. “At the end of the vacation, all pictures and videos will be destroyed. Furthermore, you will swallow a potion that will wipe out all your memories of the vacation.”[3] This reminds me of the 2003 movie Paycheck with Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart, and Uma Thurman. Affleck plays a man who makes a living by reverse engineering technology. Once he completes a given contract, his memory of the time he spent on it is completely erased. The movie is a fun action film about Affleck’s character trying to figure out why he declined a 90-million-dollar payment for his most recent job. He must put the pieces of his life back together to figure out what happened and why he made the choices he did.[4] We feel lost when we do not remember something, especially if it is important.
Kahneman ends the chapter discussing a memory wipe of a traumatic experience. He writes, “Imagine you face a painful operation during with you will remain conscious. You are told you will scream in pain and beg the surgeon to stop. However, you are promised an amnesia-inducing drug that will completely wipe out any memory of the episode.”[5] This scenario is not difficult to imagine. Every woman who has ever given birth has faced this prospect, to a degree. The memory of birth is not completely wiped out but ask a woman minutes after giving birth and a year later how it went, and you will get two completely different answers. There is an amnesic effect that happens the further you are from childbirth. It is a painful, traumatic experience. I know this in my head, but the memory of it is fuzzy. If this were not the case, no woman would ever choose to have more than one child!
My husband has also experienced an amnesic drug. Seventeen years ago, he ended up with a compound dislocation playing basketball. At the hospital, they had to set his ankle. Yes, he screamed. I could hear him from the hallway where I was waiting. He has no memory of this event. After his ankle was set, they gave him the amnesic drug. It is a surreal experience to not remember something and to have others describe it to you.
Kahneman states, “Odd as it may seem, I am my remembering self, and the experiencing self, who does my living, is like a stranger to me.”[6] Moments pass by with what seems like ever increasing speed. Moments fade to memory and memories fade. We may try to recapture a memory or relive a moment, but they are only echoes of what was. I love the way Simon and Garfunkel put it:
Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, A time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories; They’re all that’s left you[7]
[1] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow. (New York, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011). Pgs. 386-390.
[2] Ibid., Pgs., 388-389.
[3] Ibid., Pg. 389.
[4] Paycheck, directed by John Woo (2003, Paramount Pictures).
[5] Kahneman, Pg. 390.
[6] Ibid., Pg. 390.
[7] Simon and Garfunkel, “Bookends,” written by Paul Simon, recorded March 8, 1968, Columbia Studios, New York City, NY.
About the Author
Becca Hald
Becca is an ordained Foursquare minister, serving as the Online Community Pastor at Shepherd's House Church. She has over twenty-five years of leadership experience both inside and outside the church. Becca has served her community in many capacities ranging from Administrative Assistant and Children’s Ministry Director to Secretary and President of multiple school organizations. She and her husband, Andrew have been married for over 25 years. They have two adult children, Drew and Evelyn. Her great passion is to equip others, to raise awareness about mental health, and to help reduce the negative stigma surrounding mental health issues. In her free time, she loves going to Disneyland, reading, sewing, and making cards.2 responses to “Stories in Pictures”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Becca, What a thought-provoking post! I’m glad you published the work you did on Kahneman, even though it was a different author than was listed on our syllabus. It is interesting, isn’t it, this tension between taking a photo because we want to remember a special moment and fully living in the moment without the distraction of taking the photo. At my son’s graduation in December, I decided not to take a photo or video. I remembered from past graduations, feeling like I didn’t wholly experience the moment from behind my camera. I also remembered that there is a professional photographer capturing a great photo of the moment down on the stage, and that photographer will be eager to sell me that photo!
Appreciate your post!
Thank you for your encouragement Jenny. I love when I know I can just be in the moment because there is someone else capturing it for the future. I also love being the photographer. I think it is special to have the moments captured as long as it does not take away from being in the moment.