Stories Are For Joining The Past To The Future

Forty-three years old, and the war occurred half a lifetime ago, and yet the remembering makes it now.

And sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever.

That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are.

Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.

-- Tim O'Brien, winner of the National Book Award