Unless we remember how painfully the promises of economic growth were shown to be hollow we may have much more misery in store, writes Kevin Hargaden
If we take a moment to recall what it is to remember, we quickly realise that memory is one of the great gifts of life. Consider the stories we love to read, films we constantly re-watch and the music we commonly dance to; they often deal with how we recollect the past. Scientists have studied memory at length and have concluded that smell is the sense that evokes the past most forcefully. I know this is true for me. The fragrance of my mother’s brown bread recipe baking in the oven viscerally brings me back to my childhood home, regardless of where I am making it.
Our memories are woven into the fabric of who we are. Who I am is wrapped up in where I came from and who I grew up with. My past makes my present. My story is embedded in my parent’s stories, and their parent’s and on to the horizon of our collective memory. When memory evaporates, as often happens later in life, the sense of self can be lost as well. The tragedy of Alzheimer’s and similar conditions is often most keenly felt at the beginning, when there are enough memories left for the sufferer to know they are losing their place in their own story.
Memory in the Bible
It is no surprise, then, that when we turn to the Scriptures we find memory to be a major theme. Right at the beginning, in Genesis, after God encounters him, Abraham immediately builds an altar to commemorate the place where it happened (Genesis 12:6-7).
This becomes a standard practice for his descendants, who use architecture to keep important memories alive. When the nation of Israel finally reaches the land promised through Abraham, the Law that they receive has festivals of commemoration built into it.
In the centre of the Ten Commandments is the directive to set aside a day for rest and the reason given is that this break would allow people to remember that before God saved them, they were worked to death as slaves in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15).
Every day, faithful Israelites were to recite a prayer which became very important in the ministry of Jesus: Israel, remember this! The Lord – and the Lord alone – is our God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6)
We can most clearly see how important memory is in the Bible when we consider that the central festival of Israel’s calendar — Passover — is all about remembering the dramatic events that led to the liberation of the slaves from Egypt (Exodus 12-13).
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, over and over in different ways, we see how memory is at the heart of knowing the truth about yourself, your people, and your world.
Memory in the present
This year marks a decade since the period of prosperity known as the Celtic Tiger came to an end. What followed was almost a decade of punishing austerity in the public finances and the devastation of many families through unemployment, underemployment, and debt.
The country has at long last come out of the turmoil, and for that we should be thankful. But many do not feel like the rising tide has come anywhere their boats, which are still full of holes unpatched since they last took a battering.
Today our newspapers are full with articles about rising property prices, our radios broadcast reports about vanishing unemployment, and all around us the billboards and magazine spreads and Google ads tempt us to engage in retail therapy. In such a setting, it is important to remember what life was like for us 10 years ago.
In the summer of 2008 we were riding high. Ireland was in the middle of an economic boom that promised to go on forever. We found our identity in how much money we had and spent our time working on making that money grow.
This summer it is important to remember that the boom did not go on forever. When it ended, it was sudden and shocking. Collective remembering is not something we should leave in the pages of the Bible.
Our present national mood is very much in favour of ‘keeping the recovering going’. But if we do not maintain our memory of how abruptly and painfully the promises of economic growth were shown to be hollow, we may have much more misery in store. There are many who are homeless, who are on unending waiting lists for medical care, who are in debt they cannot conceive of repaying, who do not have the luxury of forgetting the hard lessons of the past decade.
At the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice we have been trying to wrestle with the memory of the end of the Celtic Tiger. We cannot develop a vision for the future of Ireland that is just and fair without a clear recollection of the past. The Celtic Tiger did not roar for everyone. It was deeply unequal, the consequences of which we can now see in the numbers of families who are homeless. Remembering rightly is not just about crafting good policy.
We can see from the Scriptures it is a spiritual issue. We cannot know ourselves, if we cannot own what we have done. Taking the time to reflect on the last decade is a profound opportunity to imagine the possibilities of the next decade.
Instead of hopeless resignation that we are bound to return to the cycle of boom and bust, it is within our power to have hope to do things differently.
Our present is shaped by our past; but our future is not determined by it. If we remember that, anything is possible.
Kevin Hargaden is a social theologian at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. The latest issue of their journal, Working Notes, deals with the issue of remembering the last 10 years and is available for free at www.workingnotes.ie