GHOSTS

The director's note for this Ibsen play (which I saw tonight at The Pearl) says:

"Ghosts urges us to question and examine the baggage we carry from generation to generation. How much of the past should we share to temper the insecurities and fears that pass from parent to child? Whether or not we share the truth, everything returns, the ghosts of the ages will return to haunt our lives."

I'm not sure I agree that the "ghosts of the ages will return to haunt our lives"... perhaps, although this is not the case in the play, they could return to remind us of our lives - to be helpful in pointing out the things we've lost or missed or glossed over in our daily lives.

Now, I realize the play was written at a different time, but the weighty responsibility of parents to children (and children to parents) still resounds in our society today - maybe not in the Duty & Obedience of the late 1800's - but the responsibility is still felt, no matter if you're estranged from your parents, or you have the great blessing of a good relationship.

And perhaps as children, (as we all are) we will never understand this relationship full circle until we have children of our own - and are then able to come to realizations of our own of what it means to harbor this intense responsibility.

I know it takes patience, and perserverence, and faith - on both sides.