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I understand there may be an emotional desire to get rid of something unpleasant, but some descendants e.g. 5 generations down the line may feel very differently about this. Given how easy scanning is these days (there are literally companies that will do it for you if you send them a box), and given how good the technology for sifting through mountains of text is becoming, and given that it's literally irreplaceable text, I can't imagine doing this to family records that one of my ancestors specifically wanted to be preserved. Not criticizing your personal decision of course, but just offering a different perspective, i.e. for me it would be unimaginable to do this.

by bonoboTP3 hours ago|

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No, the dead can't exert such influence from the grave. You're dead. It's the next generation's turn. If you were the kind of person whose diary the kids or grandkids want to see thrown in the trash, then that's how it is. You had your time on the face of the earth, you don't get to haunt the descendants. You got erased, that's it. Or your story gets retold in filtered ways in the fog of the past.

Im perfectly content knowing just vague information about individual ancestors 3-4 levels up, and basically nothing on level 5, except the odd church record of births, marriages and deaths giving a rough indication of where some of them lived.

The people 5 generations back deserve much less thought space than the community you cultivate around yourself today (including living family).

by T-RN-R3 hours ago|

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This is frankly a selfish take. Society is a compact between the dead, the living and the yet to be born. Having a piece of someone’s deepest thoughts is a treasure for future generations. By deciding to destroy, you choose to destroy the past that the future generations might value.

by bonoboTP2 hours ago|

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No, its the natural cycle. What passes away fades away. Anything that is kept up needs to be kept up actively by the generations. That which is valued needs to be preserved, such as wisdom, knowledge, art, science etc. All your drama and idle musings, maybe not. Unless you're deemed worthy by the next ones. I understand that this is a scary thought but our impact is only kept if we act such that the next generations want to preserve it. 5 generations down even your genetic impact is people who share 3% genes with you and 97% other people. Imagine a classroom with 32 people. For each of your descendants 5 generations down (which can be zero or many, the count varying greatly based on choices made by not-you), you're one person out of that classroomful of ancestors.

Sure it's kinda cool to see some fragments here and there. But would I want it to be the standard that we keep all the emails, chat messages, phone camera roll, GPS logs etc of people... Hell no. I'm not advocating for absolutely forgetting everything. But we have to filter.

by rapnie43 minutes ago|

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Deeply agree. I think it is the other way round and it is selfish to expect those that come after you to carry that burden. The OP says it is "something that weighed her down for the last 15 years of her life", and that she felt the duty to scan the diaries even after the diagnosis of cancer. Wow, now that sacrifice is a beautiful precious gift, and anyone expecting such gift is utterly selfish imho.

by Swizec1 hours ago|

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> Society is a compact between the dead, the living and the yet to be born. Having a piece of someone’s deepest thoughts is a treasure for future generations

If you want to be remembered, live a life worth remembering.

by runj__3 hours ago|

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I totally understand your way of thinking but there's just so much _stuff_, we already kept most of his paintings which takes up a lot of my limited storage space (I do appreciate them though, but it's possible to have conflicted feelings).

It would cost around $3000 to have the diaries scanned today, this number was way higher a few years ago (which my mother didn't have). I know Americans have a lot more storage space in their houses and use storage facilities for a lot of things but there has to be a cutoff point. I have about 6m3 of (already filled) extra storage space in central Stockholm and wouldn't want that much more. Throwing shit away is a part of life.

by asdefghyk2 hours ago|

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Pages could have been cut ( if written in a bound book) with a small guillotine type machine.

A few years ago , There are auto sheet scanners that scan both sides of pages relatively quickly , like 1 or 2 seconds a sheet, and can do at least 50 pages at once.

by frakt0x905 hours ago|

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I agree. When my mother died I got access to her emails, diaries etc. I read some and as you would expect there are a whole range of emotions and opinions in there, many of which I did not care to engage with. So I asked my wife to read some and she said said she thought it was worth keeping so we do. I will not read it, but perhaps someone else will get some value from it someday. It's no effort to keep (no boxes or terabytes of data).

by NewsaHackO3 hours ago|

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I feel the same way, but I think my feelings may change if I didn't actually think the person was a good enough person that deserves to have their writing immortalized, like in this case. Of course, we only have his side, but the GP doesn't seem to think his dad was a good person and wrote some hurtful things in the diary about someone they cared about, which I feel as though is justification for their actions.

by jrmyphlmn22 minutes ago|

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sometimes the act of keeping something alive can become its own burden, I'm sorry your mother had to endure that

by Rooster616 hours ago|

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Friendly spelling correction. Diaries, not dairies. Dairies are where one produces dairy products.

And I'm sorry your mom experienced that weight towards the end of her life. That sounds like a significant thing to grapple with, especially considering some of the not so pleasant content mentioned.