2/2 - The St. Louis; There and Back Again
In an attempt to dig up some of Canada’s dirty laundry, I wrote a short story about the journey of the St. Louis. You can read it by either reversing this coded URL or by simply clicking it (but that is significantly less fun and mysterious): 063721=di?php.moor/yrots /moc.yrots-etinifni//:sptth.
The story is presented as a choose-your-own-adventure narrative, yet it offers only the illusion of choice. Readers can choose to take a path that history did not but are ultimately returned to the truth. The purpose of this is twofold: firstly, they are shown the impact that choices had on history, and secondly, they cannot choose a happy ending because as the story repeats “that isn’t what happened”.
In this manner, the story explores the illusion of a choice that we have today. We can choose whether or not to accept our country’s past, but choosing not to accept it does not negate the fact that it happened. Denying the past is futile, but accepting it is uncomfortable and therefore we avoid it. However, by honestly and bluntly representing a piece of our past I hope to force readers to confront it.
Yet this is not meant to simply make readers feel guilty about what happened. Trust me, the value of learning history isn’t in making us regret the actions of our ancestors. The goal is to learn from what we cannot change in order to influence what we can.
A friend whose name I cannot reveal once gave me these words of comfort:
“The past is gone, and cannot harm you anymore. And while the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first and settles in as the gentle present.”
Just as the readers have no choice in how the narrative plays out, they also have no choice in how the past happened. We do, however, have the tiniest bit of control over the present. In this age of accurately coined “slacktivism” and record low voter turnout, it is essential to remember that the one thing we do have control over is the present. Our present.
This is a message that I wish my chosen form of expression had the means of conveying. While the story explores the actual event and forces the reader into the narrative, it does not empower them to make change in the real world, which is the necessary next step in learning of our past.
Were I more artistically inclined, I would have liked to create an artistic accompaniment to this piece in order to create a balance between truth and hope, past and future, mistakes and change. The forms would also reflect the nature of their content. The story is concrete and tells one singular truth, while the art would convey the multitude of possible roads to take and the fluid nature of the future. Yet, due to constraints of talent and time, there is only the story.
So, reader, the reins are passed on to you. The torch be yours to hold it high. You are (presumably) someone living in the real, actual present and you hold both the knowledge of the past and the ability to influence the future.
You have so much power. Use it for good.
- A.M. Ham
