The Photos We Keep

The photos we keep By Michelle Morris 29/11/2020 The photos we keep hold so many memories of the past and we relive those moments each and every time we see them again... Sometimes we have to let them go and gracefully accept that our version of those memories may be romanticised by our deep desire to rewrite history to match our most fervent wishes... We see a photo of our family and we convince ourselves that things had to be better than we remembered and that everyone was having a better time than we imagined... Photos are a snapshot of a moment in time and an album or pile of photographs shows only that which is captured on film and by that photographer... The real story is hidden behind the eyes of each person and the real emotions are often kept locked up behind walls of hurt and lifetimes of experience... And if we're not careful, we live our whole lives as a series of still photos that don't reflect the reality of our world and don't express anyone's true feelings or desires... In this, the essence of our humanity and the relationships between ourselves and our loved ones is contrived and not really experienced; and we can be like a family of strangers showing up for a play on a stage... Never having connections to each other and not expressing ourselves or our truth fully; for our love and light and hate and darkness deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and we should endeavour to be real to each other and for our highest good... © Michelle Morris, 2020