River Voices

(This is a piece I wrote for the beginning of my oral history documentary in 2013)

Oral history is the oldest form of human record.

Before people created written language,

humanity kept their history and culture alive

by passing stories down from generation to generation,

housed only in people’s memories,

and spread only through their voices.

Voices are like rivers;

Imbibing and fluid,

they absorb their surroundings

and carry their history with them.

Mighty and insistent,

they carve new paths through the world.

Both give life just as easily as they take it,

wear down resistance with sheer force and persistence,

and betray the true pace of the heart.

Both whisper their secrets and bellow their demands.

Both dry up, fluctuate, and dissipate with time,

but both leave behind evidence of their legacies

and trickles of their promises.

Oral history is the lifeblood of human culture,

and rivers are the pulsing arteries.

Both are vital to the human story,

and both are responsible for the writing of it.