To Tell the Truth

Magnolia Perspective #1

I read two books in the past month about the same events in the life of a Christian mother, her son and her daughter who fled Iran in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution. They spent time in Dubai and then in a refugee camp in Italy before they were sponsored to come to America. Daniel Nayeri retold his story as a 12-year-old child who was adjusting to school while trying to assimilate into a new life in Oklahoma. Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story) is written for older children but I found it a very compelling read. This week I read his sister's story. Dina Nayeri's book The Ungrateful Refugee; What Immigrants Never Tell You gives an account of the same escape from Iran along with other refugee stories. Dina is a few years older than her brother Daniel. She also has whiter skin and she remarks on the more favourable way she was treated at times because of her complexion. While they had the same experiences, their memories and impressions are quite different. Dina writes at the end of her book, 

"In the portions of this book about my own life, 

my accounts are true according to my memory and perspective."

I read an interview with Margaret Atwood in The Atlantic where she is quoted as saying,

"Mythology is everything that happened before you were born when your parents were gods and heroes. Legend is your life until approx age 7. History begins after that."

Magnolia Perspective #2

Childhood memories are often fragmented and disproportionate. The retelling of a story is often more real
than the actual event and time polishes the memory just as sharp glass is smoothed and rounded in time by moving sand and water. 

Our mother wrote and published a memoir a couple of years before she died. She was quite secretive when writing it and did not collaborate with anyone but Dad. Most of my siblings and I were very surprised when were read the family story as her memories were often quite different than ours. One of my brothers remarked that he would be suspicious of all autobiographies he read in the future. But another brother felt this was Mom's story written to her target audience and it was true to her memories in spite of the errors and omissions we noted. Mom was almost 80 when she wrote about events that spanned her lifetime.

Dina Nayeri writes that her family's refugee story dominated and validated their lives. Church groups who supported the family in America wanted to hear it retold over and over again even though the children preferred to move on. Daniel told his stories to his teacher and classmates who often disbelieved his account of events. He describes the difficulties he had separating legend from the truth in his young mind. 

I think about these things when I read the Bible too. The gospels were written decades after the events they describe and Christian apologists work hard to try and explain discrepancies in the four accounts. Other discrepancies are found throughout the Old Testament as well. While I believe the scriptures are inspired, inerrancy is harder to define. They were written from various historical and cultural perspectives and in different literary genres. Interpretation of scripture is decidedly challenging and prone to error, a fact that is illustrated by the many different Christian doctrines and denominations found in the past and present. The Jewish textual interpretation of scripture known as midrash is an example of rabbinical questioning of scriptural texts, providing answers in some cases, but leaving other questions unanswered. I have read some thought-provoking books and articles on these topics including Michael F. Bird's Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible to this article by Derek Vreeland called Why Biblical Inerrancy Doesn't Work.

Narcissus or Daffodil? It depends...

We are always checking stories at the hospital. A patient told us she was able to walk independently to the bathroom and to the kitchen to make her lunch. Her family told a much different story of a mother who had not walked in two years. Was the patient lying? I think not, as it was her perspective and reality even if she had not been at this functional level for a few years. Stories develop and are shared in different ways with different audiences.

I have come to accept my mother's memoirs as her own history. While I strive to write accurately as I blog, others may disagree with my versions of events past and present. My memories are inconsistent and prone to human error and my interpretation of life events may be different than what my siblings and children would describe.

I am still fairly skeptical about things I read as there are many deceitful, biased and misleading stories that are published and shared. But I am learning to listen to people's individual stories and respect their experiences as life-shaping events that are part of the big picture of their value and identity.