The Time Machine Abandoned

Something that I have read and has stuck with me was the Ray Bradbury short story “The Time Machine.” This story, like most of Bradbury’s work is set in the future.

In this not too distant future children are outside talking excitedly and arguing. One is telling the unbelieving rest that he has found a time machine. The kid tells the others to follow him and he will take them to it. They follow him into a dusty old house up the stairs and into the dimly lit attic where they see an old man sitting stiffly in a wooden chair. The boy approaches the man and sits at his feet then asks for a story. The old man then begins a story about hunting the long extinct bison on the open prairies; that is followed by a story about fighting in the Civil War. The children are captivated and gather around.

I like this story because it places great value on the experiences of elders as those who lived in times we the younger generations were unable to see. The older are wiser.

I also like the value placed on storytelling. This is something that is being lost in current generations. Movies and television have made us unwilling to hear the telling of a story. We want to see it. Watching our stories we lose much of the humanness that used to be central to stories. Stories were about people and they were told by people. Today there are shown to us in pixels.

Think of how better things used to be when people tell stories, of when your parents told bedtime stories, sharing an exciting story of you day with a friend or sharing some unique experience. Tell stories, listen to others stories that is how we share our lives.