Speak the Truth as We See It

"Many people falsify or deny their past to suit their present needs and desires. Was Elsa Morante correct when she wrote: "History is a history of fascisms, more or less disguised." History, of course, can be interpreted in many different ways, but certain facts need to be confronted with as much truth as we can muster. We may construct a story that seems true to us, after which we can continue with our lives. As Joan Didion put it, "We tell stories to live.""

"I was enraged when my sister's husband drove their car off the road one dry night. No other car was in sight. This happened after years of his battering my sister. As a witness and writer, I wished to cry out like Jane Eyre, in a loud voice, "Unfair! Unfair!" This happened to my beautiful, talented sister, who had never harmed anyone."

"At the time this happened, almost fifty years ago, my mother preferred to treat this as an accident, to cover up the scandal of my sister and her husband's history; he had been both unfaithful and brutal to her and their children. My mother protected an idealized image of my sister's husband. She did this for the six children, the youngest of whom was 3 years old."

Many people alter or deny past events to fit present needs. The narrator reflects on historical perspectives and storytelling, invoking Elsa Morante and Joan Didion. The narrator's sister died when her husband drove their car off the road after years of battering her. The narrator felt enraged and cried out at the injustice while questioning how such evil could exist. The mother treated the crash as an accident and protected an idealized image of the husband to shield six children. Years later, after deaths and the children's adulthood, the narrator wrote a memoir revealing family truths.

Read at Psychology Today