The Blockchain Memory Project. Why it is so wonderful and so special to be able to record your memories on the blockchain. Part 1

in #story6 years ago

When I read @ericvancewalton's post about the Blockchain Memory Project, I thought: "he writes about something that was an important reason for me to take part in this platform in the first place".

Why? because Steemit would give me the chance to write about many things, including my childhood memories. If they wanted to know more about me, even after my death, my grandchildren could find me on Steemit (their parents know I was on Steemit) and read about me. After all, everything on the blockchain is forever.

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My granddaughter Juliet, now 5, and my husband's grandson Beau, now 7, on our wedding day five years ago!

My mother, my daughter, my grandson Sam and I (with my eyes closed as so many times on a picture). My mother is doing pretty well, she is in a rehabilitation clinic and no longer in the hospital as in this picture.
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As a historian, I know it is difficult to know what 'normal' people did and thought in earlier centuries. History was about the acts of important people, not about ordinary people.

This all changed in the 20th century, certainly after the computer made it possible to enter a lot of data and the computer could then calculate, for example, how old people became on average in the 17th century, how large the average landownership was of farmers in the 18th century, how many children died before they were five years old etc.

It was not until the 19th century that the realization arose that people in earlier centuries really thought differently and behaved and, for instance, dressed differently. Look at the paintings of 16th-century painters. If the subject is historical, for instance the early middle ages, the people on the painting are dressed like 16th-century people.

Writing too was not something everybody in ancient times could do. Nowadays many teachers complain about the fact that writing, I mean by handwriting, is on a downward trend, that is also because of the computer, but of course, that is a completely different story.

Will Sam ever learn to write like my father, who had a more than beautiful handwriting!
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This is a long introduction, but it seemed useful to write this down first to make it clear that it is a privilege to save your past on a medium like Steemit.

In the coming weeks, I hope to write a few posts about my own past. I can tell you in this post that if I had lived in previous centuries, I would never have become a historian. There are two reasons for this suspicion and both are enough in themselves.

First, I am a woman and women didn't go to university in the Netherlands until the end of the 19th century. The first female student admitted to the university was Aletta Jacobs. In the 17th century a woman also was admitted, Anna Maria van Schurman, but that was a 'special case' and was not followed. Aletta Jacobs was the first to successfully complete a university study. She completed her medical exams in 1877 and 1878 despite a lot of male opposition.

The second reason is that people, born into a middle-class family like I was, would never go to university until well in the 20th century. Most middle-class men followed in their father's profession and women married and didn't study at all. It was different in poor and rich families, but that is also another story.

I have to thank my teacher in the last grade of primary school that I could go to the right high school and study later in life. But that's also a story I'll tell you later.

For now, I wish you all a nice day,
Clio

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Information is paramount.
Impressive to see how the world is changing with technology.
Blockchain will reveal a lot about ourselves.
Keep on steemin'

I will keep on Steemin and I do agree that it is impressive to see how the world has changed and will change due to technology. We will have to wait and see!

Welcome back! Good to hear your mother is doing better!

Funny while even I forgot so many things during history classes, when you were writing about the first Dutch female student, her name immediately popped back into my head without even the name. Some things do make an impression I guess.

Also I thought a while back how life would look like if I would live in a different century. Well, I used to have -6,5 glasses before getting my eyes lasered. So I think if I was born in the prehistoric times I would have been abandoned by the heard because I wasnt able to collect berries, and most likely would be eaten by a bear hahahahah.

No doubt about that:) I always think, when people say it was so much better in the past, that they should have lived, really lived in ancient times, middle ages or even the 19e century. Many would not even be alive at the age they have now. They would miss so much they are used too in the 21st century.

Even when we're younger. We had fond memories of certain parts of our childhood and people say "I wish I could do that all over again"

For instance, I just to love watching spiderman cartoons before going to school each morning. They would come on at 5am when I was a kid. I'd get up extra early to watch them.

Well as an adult I watched one, and I shrugged my shoulders, and it didn't appeal to me the same way.

They way we understand and perceive life as we get older mans that "things we thought was so much better in the past" also came with things we didn't realize we were missing out on either. Going back to the past might bring new frustrations that we take for granted today.

Gee, @clio, you always get me thinking. :)

Thank you @intelliguy for the compliment.
It is something strange, your own past. You only remember the special things that have happened and there is also nostalgia. Most people see their past in a warm light. Not when, of course, bad things happened, but otherwise the past will be filtered. A nice example is your spiderman cartoons. I hope you thought (when you looked at them again) about the fun moments that you had as a child and that you did not think: "oh, I wasted my time".
BTW, I think it would have been a little weird if you had still liked them as much as when you were a kid, don't you think?

Very true friend ,every thing written here in the blockchain remain as mamories.your grandchildren looks very cute with both.Thanks for the beautiful post.

Thank you Maya!

Oh yes, the technology of the Blockchain is very versatile and universal and the Blockchain Memory Project from @ericvancewalton is becoming very relevant precisely for people like us, my friend, because it is very convenient and important for us. By the way, very nice photos of your family and pishpite us more of your stories, I'm very interested! Thank you Clio

You are welcome. I would love to read also some stories from you. It is indeed very relevant!

Thank you so much for the intro, I've always found it fascinating to learn how people lived throughout history! This is such an awesome opportunity to have all our memories stored on the blockchain, can't get lost and is straight from the horse's mouth so to say! And I'm sure at least one in your future generation would want to know how their forebears lived or what they did for a living.
I for one started working on a family tree in my high school days but the book was lost in a move, no back-ups in those days as you know ;) So I lost quite a bit of info that I'd dragged out of the older generation. By the time I wanted to start this again, memories had faded, but then I made contact with long lost cousins who are also helping put together a family tree. Look forward to your next #blockchainmemoryproject post!
PS you & hubby have gorgeous grandchildren, I'm still waiting!!!

Yes, it is really fascinating to learn how people have lived in history. We forget how hard life can be in previous centuries and it makes you more appreciative of your own time, although our own time is certainly not perfect, on the contrary. But we have electric light, sewers, telephone, doctors etc. etc
I'm sorry to hear that you have lost your family tree, but cheers for the long lost cousins.

I am certainly blessed. I have three children, the eldest, a boy, has two daughters (5 and 2 years old) and my daughter has a son (1 year old). So I have already three grandchildren.

You're right, we always say the world is in a bad state today but when one looks at history, it probably was much worse with all the illnesses and the cruelty. We have it quite cosy nowadays!
You are blessed indeed @clio! We have two sons, the eldest 41 already but although he's in a steady relationship, there's no talk of marriage nor babies! Our 37 year old is still searching for miss perfect, & we know she does not exist;)
We run a little bnb and love it when families come with little ones :)

Je suis tout à fait d'accord avec ce que vous dites et contente d'apprendre que vous allez écrire sur votre passé. On ne se rend pas toujours compte que ce que nous vivons aujourd'hui deviendra notre passé et que beaucoup de choses auront changé. Cela devient surtout intéressant pour nos descendants et je parle en connaissance de cause puisque j'ai la chance d'avoir de nombreux écrits de mes ancêtres qui m'apprennent un tas de choses sur les époques passées.
Depuis quelques temps je publie sur steemit les lettres de mon grand-père écrites pendant la guerre de 14/18. Ce qu'il a vécu est historique et il est important pour moi de le partager avec ma famille mais aussi avec le plus grand nombre de gens possible car c'est un sujet de réflexion utile à notre évolution.
Je m'arrête là sinon je vais vous fatiguer. J'attends votre prochain article avec impatience @clio.

It is wonderful that you have so many diaries/letters from your ancestors. I don't think many people have that like you. I have been too busy lately to read a lot and certainly posts in French are a little more difficult for me, so I will read your posts about your grandfather in the coming weeks. It is really wonderful to read those letters 100 years or so after they are written. I wish I had letters from my ancestors, but unfortunately, I don't.
Maybe that's also why I want to write something of my own past, so my offspring could read (if they want to) a little about me.

I think it important o preserve our history for future generations. I would love to read and learn more about my ancestors but I am afraid many of those histories have been lost. I think we need to know where we have been, in order to know where we are going.

In general, I think that we as a people do not learn much from our history. We make the same mistakes over and over again. We should learn from our history, but there are still wars, corruption, etc. etc.
But for a person, it is certainly fun (useful?) To learn more about the history of your family. It makes you a link in a chain and it is good to know where you came from. If it is to know where we are going, I am afraid that I have my doubts about that. But it is warm, charming and fun to know your family in the past.

But but..
Sorry, newbie question incoming!
I thought I "heard" or read somewhere,
(Maybe it was even in 1 of @Exyle's posts)
that you can only scroll back on ones blog to a year max?!
What's up with that, and how are we suposed to find things back that are older than that year?
I'm superconfused on it all

What I know is that once something is on the blockchain, it will stay there forever.
But you made a point. I will ask @exyle, my son, how it works. Maybe somebody reads your question and will answer it for you.

This project is right up your alley @clio!! I look forward to more of your stories. You have a lovely family by the way - as if you need to be told that. :)

It's nice to see you - I feel like we've not touched base in a while.

Indeed we didn't. All due to my very busy life in Rotterdam, my children and grandchildren and my mother's broken hip. But I do hope to have more time on my hands in the coming weeks. I do like to 'see' you also!

That is a good idea. It is always one of the things I have loved most about steemit. I write some crazy trying to be funny stuff at times but it is the reason I intersperse my stories with tales of my daughter and my family life because I think the idea of that permanent record that people could access is priceless!

One day your daughter will read your stories ! Your stories are hilarious, that's for sure and uber creative.

I really hope she does, when she is much older of course. What amuses me is the idea that she will be like, look at all the swearing!!!

What @clio said is what I pictured.....and of course being on the other side of grown children, the banner they hold up to our faces is one of judgement...."Oooooh, you can say such in such, but I get banished to my room for saying the same thing..." Ya....look at all the swearing. It will come back to haunt you. Or...she might think it charming. Hard to say!

I live by do as I say not as I do..... not really.

I'm sure you will be the loveable cuddly sweet dad that you already are...and she'll laugh and think you silly.

She will most definitely think I am silly, it is wjat she thinks right now lol!

I would love to take a look into the future and to see your son and daughter sitting together on a couch and reading your stories about themselves and their father and mother.
I know that they will love your stories as much as we do and will laugh as much as we do. It is indeed priceless to have this opportunity.

That's what I was picturing too @clio.

It totally is.

I am smiling just thinking about it :0)

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