Contribute to American Wisdom and Memoirs

"American Wisdom and Memoirs "

A series of three books that you can be a part of

By David D Dickinson and Americans everywhere!

Written as a three part series, American Wisdom and Memoirs will have a separate book for each generation of Americans:

• American Wisdom and Memoirs: Seniors Edition
• American Wisdom and Memoirs: Baby Boomers Edition
• American Wisdom and Memoirs: Young Americans Edition

Please take a moment to read further and discover what these book projects are about and I hope you will decide to be a part of what may become a valuable piece of American literature.

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What is Wisdom?

Wisdom can be defined as the ability to make correct judgments and decisions and to exercise common sense. It is an intangible quality gained through experience and it gives us our individual perspective. We can gain wisdom by reading studying and obtaining an education or simply by paying attention to what is happening around us as we go about our daily lives and by learning from those around us. From the time we are born, until the time we die, we are gaining insight and understanding. We learn from our family and our teachers, our clergy and our leaders. Major events in our lives, such as the experience of war, the birth of a child, or a near death experience give us insight that is invaluable to the rest of our lives. The more we experience, the wiser we become.

Some people around us seem to have more wisdom than others. From those people, we gain inspiration and insight. We draw upon their wisdom. It might be a parent or grandparent, a teacher, minister, commanding officer or simply the guy down the street that we looked up to growing up. Sometimes, that innate wisdom that our mentors in life show us is not always the result of a broad education or world travels. Often, it is hard to pinpoint what it is and why this person seems to have such excellent judgment, but it is there for us to draw on, none the less. Neither of my parents had college degrees, but I still look back on their lives and the insight and understanding they displayed with admiration.

From the heartland of America to its vast shores and borders, many Americans have wisdom unique to our culture and our American experience. It is made up of the values and beliefs passed down from our ancestors, those new Americans that came to this great land in search of a better life for themselves and their families.

American Wisdom and Memoirs will seek to draw from the wisdom of Americans everywhere.

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What is a Memoir?

Many memoirs have been written by or for famous Americans and published to be shared as a chronicle of their lives, so that a part of our American history should not be lost. That is important and those memoirs have given us insight into those historical lives and the wisdom that those people had to share, but we all have a story to tell. We all have wisdom that we have gained through our lives. This book series will provide an opportunity for all Americans to have a voice and to tell their story and impart their wisdom, because we all have values and beliefs that are a part of us and that we draw on to make decisions in our daily lives.

People from all walks of life, all over this great country, have a story to tell. Who might be good contributors to American WIsdom and Memoirs book series? The answer is simple. Celebrities, politicians, authors, teachers, counselors, parents, grandparents, college students, military people, laborers, immigrants… all have something to say.

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Why this book project?

The birth of this book series came in the middle of the night in January, 2006. At one o’clock on a Saturday night, moving into Sunday, our two small dogs began an outburst of barking as my eighteen year old son returned from Winter Ball. I got up and said “Hello,” asking how the dance was, as my mother often did when I was my son’s age. Going back to bed, I found myself unable to go back to sleep and my mind was going a hundred miles an hour. We have all had that experience. I thought of him and his older brothers and sisters, questioning if I had done all that I could to convey to them the insights, knowledge and wisdom that I had to offer them, so that they could go out and make their way in the outside world. I had, for the last ten years since she had passed away, wished that I could consult my mother. I had always thought her a very wise and gracious woman with tremendous insight. In my mind, she always seemed to know what to say or do.

My mind continued to wander, thinking of my grandparents, aunts, uncles and old family friends who had also passed. I was sad to realize that all I had were vague memories. It was hard to even remember their voices. I wished that I could go back and take some time out of my busy life to make a record of their thoughts and perceptions of life. So much had been lost by not having their memoirs.

As I continued to toss and turn, unable to calm my mind, I began to think of all the millions of people in America, each with a story to tell. I thought of the senior citizens that were still with us and had stories to pass on. Was anyone taking notes? Would anyone remember their stories and be able to pass down their wisdom?

The generation that spawned the baby boomers came from an era when there was more time to pass those stories and progress seems to have eaten away the moments that families spend together, retelling those stories. Family values seem to have changed with the times. Families have become more fragmented with the divorce rate at all time highs and the world becoming a smaller place due to modern communications and the ability to travel long distances quickly. The world is on the go and we seem to be moving away from family being the center of our day to day lives. The internet and cable TV bombard us with information and new ways to do things.

There isn't much time spent around the family dinner table talking about events and how they relate to us as family. Grandparents don’t see as much of their grandchildren as they did fifty or one hundred years ago. Grandchildren know less and less of what their grandparents are about and the values that the older generations grew up with. Is that the progress that we have made as a society or is it the consequence of that progress?

I realized that I had trunks and boxes of pictures dating back to the late 1800s and not enough written history to know what the people in the pictures were really all about. The voices had been stilled. The pictures could only tell so much of the story. I realized that I had failed. I had failed because I did not take the time to ask the generation that is now gone to pass on those stories that they knew and to record their memoirs when there had been time. It is too late now. They are gone.

But, it is not only our senior citizens that have something to say. Baby Boomers and the young Americans that are setting a new pace for this great country need a place to raise their voices and tell their stories, as well, and so American Wisdom and Memoirs will have an American Wisdom and Memoirs: Baby Boomers Edition and an American Wisdom and Memoirs: Young Americans Edition, in addition to American Wisdom and Memoirs: Seniors Edition.

Everyone has experiences, principles, wisdom passed down from family and mentors. Everyone has a story to tell, but this is not my book and it not my story. This book will be written by those that contribute.

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How can you contribute?

The website for this project is currently under construction, but I hope that you will go to www.AmericanWisdomAndMemoirs.com and bookmark it and return often. As the next couple of weeks go by, you will be able to find out more about the projects and how you will be able to contribute your writings. You have already written something that would be a valuable contribution, haven't you?

Feel free to contact me at dddickinson@AmericanWisdomAndMemoirs.com

David D Dickinson