Googling ‘Origin Stories’ brings forward a wealth of articles and documents, and it becomes clear that this is of interest to many people. Could it be because we are in a time of uncertainty and that we are looking back into our pasts because there is comfort to be had in thinking about the past, rather than becoming anxious about what might be to come? Possibly, but are we in uncertain time? Yes, we are but aren’t we always? And haven’t we always had origin stories – it is just that the process has been named and shared across the globe?
Origin stories and the truth.
One interesting article I came across spoke about how many people (in the public eye) have almost rewritten their origin story to the point of fabrication. I’m less concerned about how accurate an origin story is because we know that the truth is often difficult to gauge even within ourselves. I often say that with every relationship or friendship that I have had that has ended, there will be four versions – mine and theirs at the time, and mine and theirs now after time has passed. I can’t vouch that their truth will be different then and now, but I am grateful that mine are because in all those situations my ability to reflect and take responsibility for what is mine to take, shows I am growing. And I value that.
The article said that those who have written their origin stories despite documented evidence suggesting different beginnings, often do so claiming that they are self-made. However, the author asks if we can ever be truly self-made given the impact of our birthtime, place and family. For example, would the latest rich list members be on that list if they had been born in e.g., any of the former Yugoslavian countries at the time of conflict, or Sudan during times of great famine; Cambodia, Ethiopia, or North Korea? Perhaps being born in Germany as a Gen X new born would be different to a German born in 1920s, or a female in Yemen. Some would say that we choose our birth situations – some would view that belief with astonishment.
Of our time and place.
Perhaps, we all are doing the best we can with the time and resources we have, and that is what we are thinking about when we write our origin stories. When I began to write my story, I felt what I had written reflected how I am of my time and my place. I also know that despite being born working class I know that we all were at that time. There were few people in the town who had very much more, not really, so we didn’t seem to notice the lack. I have climbed up the classification ladder given by the Office for National Statistics but only because I was raising children in the 90s and not the 70s when it would have been a totally different ballgame for mothers, particularly single mothers such as myself. My memories though of the child support agency are that they didn’t manage to get me any support, and the Family Credit department’s miscalculations meant I returned as much as I received which threw me below the poverty line along with countless others at the time. However, I did benefit from the controversial Right to Buy opportunity at the time.
I appreciate being a teen in the 80s; I loved the music-driven tribes, the freedoms we had, and our ability to fly under the radar and fend for ourselves into adulthood (government funding aside). I also remember the catcalls from grown men when we were walking to school, and how every girl I knew had experienced sexual assault though it wasn’t recognised as being that and just how it was. I could go on about the challenges and crimes against girls and women at the time, and I wonder if it mattered less because it was expected; it was the norm.
I benefited from the race the generations ahead of me ran, and I hope me and my generation carried that baton on a little further. There is much criticism of how Gen Z is developing into an anxious and incapable-of-adulting cohort, and I wonder how much is due to the societal pressures within which they live – surely all of it. When I reach the age of societal irrelevance, I will be ready to let go of the baton to my millennial sisters and the Generation Z elders and hope they have a plan for a safer and more equal world for our Generation Alpha daughters and granddaughters. We owe it to them, the future women and girls, and ourselves as well as those who came before us.
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