Would I spill out my personal thoughts, feelings and actions in a memoir? The short answer is not for publication purposes - I am too private a person for that, but I may well write my memoirs at some future stage for the eyes of family and friends.
I am inspired by my late father who, in the later years of his life, incapacitated by strokes, spent much of his time revisiting his youth and writing his own memoirs. In them, he does not spill out feelings explicitly, but the story of a working class lad who defies all the odds through sheer determination and hard work carries a subliminal message of hope that if we believe in ourselves we can succeed. The result is a treasured legacy of stories which form a wonderful source of comfort, joy and pride to the family. Moreover, memoirs of this nature can be passed down to future generations so that our grandchildren and their children can gain an understanding from whence they came.
