Lost History

"We must recover our history, we must remember our history." These are abiding South African themes. At the same time, I find that a massive loss of history is taking place in our generation -- through crime above all, and through other forms of social instability.  There is hardly a home which has not been plundered at some time, and in many cases history is lost at the same time. My own history has been significantly reduced, and there are many people who have virtually no history left at all except in their heads, my wife being an example.