Before the final bivouac carries us away…

Christian Morisot
A jumble of pointless stories for reflection:
Critical thinking is still alive and well, especially concerning past events. Each and every one of us presents our version of events, sometimes different from the facts themselves. But to what extent can the truth of the moment be transformed into historical reality? Freezing our collective memory in immutable and idealized certainties would be, to say the least… questionable.

This is also how certain traditions, clouded by incomprehensible intellectual laziness, are constructed… An impossible idea comes to mind: the next time I participate in or listen to a conversation at a friendly gathering of former legionnaires, I will write it down. It could happily enrich the memory of our Legionary history.

Today, talking about the world seems to present a kind of labyrinth of two opposing notions: chaos and absolute order, so that symbolically, we observe an incomprehensible aberration with a structure that we can only decipher with great difficulty. A deadly trap that nonetheless produces hope. It is astounding to think that at one time, the "free world" was represented by monsters like Pinochet, Stroessner, or Videla.
The method of collecting stories is booming, and yet its origins go back several decades in the United Kingdom, where a biological research institute created in 1936 was tasked with recording what very different people had to say about their daily lives.

In fact, the BBC produced a radio program that aimed to create a portrait of Great Britain by compiling thousands of recorded conversations from all over the country. Since then, selected excerpts have been broadcast every day before the news. But far beyond the chatter it generates, this initiative follows in the footsteps of the success of a book on London society that gives equal weight to the testimonies of a cycle rickshaw driver, a city official, an urban planner, and others, creating a unique and revealing portrait of the country.

I envision doing the same with our Federation: "Archiving the life stories of our elders as a collection of testimonies from very different people, but above all, recording them before it's too late!"
Admittedly, the undertaking seems like a difficult dream to realize. It appears very difficult to recover memories we know are hidden, and it is practically impossible to prevent them from disappearing forever when those who have so much to tell us depart for an unknown elsewhere, which we pompously call "the final resting place."

This desire to record and preserve these archives is symptomatic of the spirit that should guide our Federation. Unfortunately, we would have to re-evaluate ourselves in line with the pace of modern life and our General Assemblies, which are pre-written with an agenda that never changes and doesn't take into account any potential debates, meaning the minutes can be written well before the meeting itself…

Fortunately, our Association has no shortage of projects in this regard. One of these, the "unlikely lunch," should allow us to "fuel" discussions about the future that lies ahead and to shape, without rushing, step by step, the reconstruction of our internal regulations and statutes to adapt them to today's problems for an ambitious tomorrow. The game is on; place your bets… It seems obvious, and there's no doubt, that we can say, with a bit of lucidity and a lot of humor, that: "We are an unprotected species on the verge of extinction," unless…