Preserving Life's Treasures

Robert EbsenOP-ED

Which of your “Life's Treasures” would you would like to preserve?

In the event of your demise, what things would you like to be saved for perpetuity?

Here are some of Life's Treasures that I would like to preserve:

• All the photos, videos and family documents, including the children's writings and artwork from their early years. Someone should be able to know what we looked like, what we did and what we thought about.

• All the work and hobby information we kept. Someone should know what we did at work, and what we liked to do in our spare time.

• A complete list of names, addresses and phone numbers. What if someone wants to contact a certain someone years from now?

But, who is going to look at this stuff after 3, 4  or more generations?  Is it worth keeping and preserving?

It can all fit on a DVD — so why NOT save it, pass it on to the children and other relatives?

This appears to be only the beginning of the Information Age.  

We may have seen photos of our great-grandparents, but most of us probably haven't seen them in videos. The videos (and DVDs) we have today will one day be replaced by who-knows-what technology.  

Perhaps each of our thoughts (as well as everything else about us) will be preserved on an underground “central board.”  Our descendants will be able to log in and search for any moment in time to learn about, say, their ancestors’ (viz., OUR) feelings about crumb cake.  See, we can alter the future.

So, even though we are still in the primitive years of information-saving and recall, what we preserve today may be looked upon with relish by someone doing research in the future.  

How about your great-great-great-great granddaughter smiling at the retrieval of a photo and account of your first puppy, as she does a research project about “Schnauzers in My Family”?

So, did I convince you to back up your data and send copies to loved ones?  

Now, if we could only ensure that our data DVDs would be passed on — until that underground, “central board” is built.  

You can email at robertebsen@hotmail.com