Yesterday I said that real history is a true story, and that just because it can be told differently doesn’t mean that the truth of history depends on who’s telling it.  Whether you’re reading history or writing it, it takes virtue—not least of all humility, honesty, justice, and prudence—to be fair and get it right.

But there is one way in which history is, indeed, personal—one way in which it is fair to say that you will decide what’s true and what’s not: It’s the history of your own life.

It’s easy to think of history as being just about big people and big events: Kings and presidents; wars, movements, elections, and inventions that have shaped our world.  The stuff you study here at school.  But you, also, have a history…and you’re writing it each and every day.

And here’s the thing: People will want to know it.  I love hearing stories about my grandfather, who grew up in the depression and whose cruel stepmother made him go to school without shoes on his feet; or about the time my mom got called a “paranoid insurrectionist” by her teacher; or the summer when my dad had to dig fence-post holes for his horse pasture, and that year his fastball hit nearly 90mph (that’s not Mr. Buller fast, but its pretty good).  And yes, my girls love to hear from their grandparents all kinds of stories of what I was like as a kid.

While I might not be the one telling those stories, when it comes to my own life, so far as my own decisions are concerned, I decide what’s true and what’s not.  Biographies are just personal histories—and like it or not, we each have to write our own.  And people—your family at the very least—will tell it someday, even if it is never published.  So, make it a good one.

Now, for the Friday Funnies

A man is walking through the woods when he sees a bear charging at him.  He books it, but he knows he can’t outrun a bear for long, so he starts praying, “Dear Lord, I beseech thee. Please, please let this bear be a Christian!”  The bear catches up to him, knocks him down on the ground, then gets on its knees and says, “Dear Lord, thank you for this food I am about to receive…”

Have a wonderful day.