Understanding your Ghosts | הרוחות שלך
הבנת
By Daniel Shapiro, MC’18
ORIGINAL
TRANSLATION
As Halloween approaches, you’ll see ghosts all around you. White, billowing clouds of some terrifying ether wafting in the October breeze, pale forms with bottomless holes for eyes and no soul. Are these the real deal? Are all ghosts scary? I don’t think so. Our image of Ghosts seems to be fairly negative, what with the idea of spirits always causing mischeif and being constantly irritated at some arbitrary transgression from our earthly world to theirs. I think that ghosts have an unjustly bad reputation. In fact, ghosts should be looked at in quite a positive light, and here’s why: ghosts provide continuity between the past and the present. Ghosts “living” among us bring our entire timeline into the same moment, the same present. Visualizing and understanding the ghosts around you, yours and others’, allows you to look upon the past, present, and future simultaneously, and put your present in context. This aspect of ghosts is incredibly important, and incredibly useful.
Understanding your ghosts allows you to better understand your heritage. Sure, when I visit a park from my childhood I can see mini-me running among the slides, flying dangerously high (~3 feet) on the swing, with my slightly younger parents sitting on a bench with ice cream and a newspaper. However, far more interesting and inspiring are the ghosts of those who have lived longer than I have. I can’t see the ghosts of my parents’ childhood, because they’re still running amok in Leningrad or Minsk. I can’t see the ghosts of my grandparents, because they’re cross country skiing in Siberia or fighting in World War Two. I can’t see the ghosts of the countless holocaust survivors for whom my high school Klezmer band played, because they’re still grieving over the lost family, friends, and ephemeral strangers in mass graves in Eastern Europe. But I can learn about them.
From ghosts, I can understand where I come from, who my people are, and who my ghosts are. When I visit the country my parents and family are from, I’ll be able to see the ghosts of my heritage walking the streets and playing in the parks, working the stores and riding 20th century elevators with me. Indeed, I’m the one who gives them life.
It’s said that one dies twice — once, when one actually dies and the second, when one is remembered for the last time. When I think about, talk about, and learn about the ghosts of those who came before me, the ghosts of my heritage, I am keeping the memories and traditions of my past alive. By seeing my present in context of my past, I can plan out how I want to shape my future. How will my ghost be remembered through others? Who will I impact, and who will still see my ghost? When will I die for the second time? Hopefully never. This is the importance of remembrance, and the true power of ghosts: they create life eternal.
