CPE Article: Severing the line with the past

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CPE Article Task

A general interest magazine is inviting readers to contribute to a series of articles about interesting possessions that have been handed down to them by family members. You decide to write an article about something you have inherited from a family member. You should describe what it is and explain why, in general, you think it is important to pass on interesting possessions to future generations.

Write your article.

The one-meter-long sabre laid enclosed in its sheath peering at me from behind the clothes every time I opened the wardrobe. Just the thought of what its razor-sharp blade did almost a century ago and was capable of in the future sent shivers down my spine. As a nine-year old girl, on the one hand, I thought it would save my life in case of war like it did with my great-great-grandfather, but on the other hand, …

A poignant reminder of the Armenian past, the Genocide, the sabre dated back to the 1910s, when my grandfather’s grandfather fought against the Ottoman Empire. Although the handle and the sheath were showing clear signs of deterioration through age, my grandfather had sharpened the blade to ‘breathe new life into it’ (I’m still puzzled why), corroding its authenticity. My family was in possession of the sabre, and I was the next in line and the perspective owner of the object to decide its destiny once I came of age. Anyway, the sabre did not stay with us long. Having decided that keeping a cold weapon at home was not the best idea, my elders donated it to the Armenian National Museum without even asking my opinion, so away went a piece of family history. I’m still in two minds whether this was a good idea.

Indeed, family possessions that are handed down from generation to generation carry a legacy that should not be forgotten. They are wrapped in an aura of smells, motions and sounds that they once soaked in, an aura that perpetuates the past and lingers in memories. Not only can they tell a history about a person’s roots, but they also build bridges between this personal narrative to the epoch of bygone times or a consequential historical event. Admittedly, sometimes possessions can serve as a source of inspiration by means of reminding of a feat that a person’s forbearer accomplished, and encourage the progeny to follow suit. Whatever the case, parting with a family possession is akin to severing a fine cord that attaches the new owner to a fraction of history.  

Now, even though the sabre is not around and not startling me with its malicious look, I still have a sense of regret that our family had to part with it depriving me of a testimony of our family’s and nation’s past. But I sincerely hope that it will remind a whole host of others of the Armenian Genocide and make the humanity reconsider war and never repeat the horrible past ever again.

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