Echoes of their past . . .

In this media age are writers still important in recording historic events? These days we consume information at the click of a button and during this novel pandemic we are doing so more than ever as our lives in many ways are played out virtually; work, education, social connections, shopping, and fitness classes to name a few. The stream of news and events that occur throughout the world have been recorded since the advent of early media. Newspapers and government records stored in archives in readiness for the future to look back upon. Thinking back to the age of Samuel Pepys, whose dairy gave us glimpses into life during the black death and the great fire of London, I believe the answer is still yes. Writers such as you and I still have a part to play. Diaries and memoirs that survive uncertain and troubled times give us all a personal account into how a person has been affected and how they triumphed or succumbed to circumstance. Like beloved characters in a book, it provides a personal connection, something we can relate to in some way. It allows us to experience their emotions, their fears, their hope. Pepys wrote about the outbreak of the plague in Amsterdam and his fears of it spreading to England. His fear then realised in a later diary entry " . . . to my great trouble, hear that the plague is come into the City." In September 1665 he wrote "To see a person sick of the sores . . ." and continues to list of the perished he once knew; "To hear that poor Payne, my waiter, hath buried a child, and is dying himself." Pepys writes of everyday people as well as noblemen and women of the time. He provides an insight into how London as a city fared with the epidemic that struck so viciously without bias. Another example of an infamous dairy is that of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who sadly lost her life at the hands of the Nazis in WW2. Whilst in hiding, she wrote of her life, her family, her hopes, and aspirations for the future, one that sadly did not come to fruition. She wrote of her family's time spent in hiding in a secret annex located behind her father's business premises in Amsterdam. Anne wrote of her wish to publish her stories of their life in the annex but it was only her father that survived and it was him that fulfilled that wish. Since its publication in 1947, her courage and inspiration have inspired generations and it has become an important part of human history, highlighting the horrors of war with the dreams of a young girl. The diaries of Samual Pepys and Anne Frank, two people at different ends of the social spectrum and whose lives played out centuries apart have provided us with rich and priceless glimpses during tragic events of our past. I think this is proof enough that writing such diaries now during this global crisis of COVID 19 may only seem irrelevant to the person writing it now, but in the future, it may prove an invaluable human insight to what will quickly become the past to another generation. Diaries and journals are not driven by statistics or headline news, they focus on what is important to the individual and those around them, heartfelt echoes of their past.