in every generation...
Updated: Mar 11, 2020
a professional companion can help pave a story's way from one generation to another
lately i started working with an amazing elderly lady. her life has been full of hardships and bitter experiences. when she was a newborn 80 years ago her family had to escape from her german hometown in order to survive. the family of five had to cross many oceans until they finally arrived in shanghai. the german jewish baby girl grew up in a poor neighborhood amongst chinese mendicants and japanese soldiers.
after the foundation of the state of Israel the family moved to nahariya but never felt at home there. a few years later they moved back to their german hometown. after having spent all of her adult life in germany the lady's memories from the days back in her early childhood are suddenly haunting her. and every time she wants to share her memories with her loved ones she can read this "now the old stories again"-thing in their eyes.
but ever since the lady and i started our common journey to the land of her memories she suddenly recalls the smells and looks of the shanghai of her early childhood years. her stories become more and more colorful as we progress.
she wants me to write a book about her life because she wants her children and grandchildren - and even the grandchildren of her grandchildren whom she might never meet - to grasp how precious democracy, peace and equal rights are. and she wants them to know that we as human beings are fragile and strong. both at the same time.
