memory, children, community

When you see a grown child, it's not difficult to remember them as they were, precisely the time you first met them. The memory of them is accompanied by the place and the social milieu. There's always, at least for me, a sense of wonder, of how that being has grown, and how vivid the image I hold of them as a child. This perception, I believe, is what creates community, since the child is of a time, place and people - a time which you inhabited. This is a thought, which might come close to, or is even influenced, by Sobonfu Some's description of the West African community to which she belongs, in which any child is the child of a single person but also of the community. While it's true to say that the memory of a child is circumscribed by a specific time and place, which you hold and share with others, I can still appreciate the fact that that grown child before me now will have inhabited other places and other times. It's always a treat when they remember you.

ST