journals found after a loved one passes...

[greglovesoldtrucks]

I learned the hard way years ago, that if a person NEVER wants anyone else to know their thought(s), then that thought(s) should never be written down by that person.

[Izzie1213]

My grandmother kept a journal if sorts. Mostly special dates, who was born when, who died, when and where here people moved to. Random things purchased and amount, cars, tractors, how much a crate of peaches cost. How many cans of beets canned. Nothing really about her thoughts. When someone was jailed and when they got out. It was over a 60 or so time span. My mom has it. It's fun to see the random things she thought to notate.

[oldgardener]

If the writer didn't share it when alive, it wasn't meant to be shared. Not only would I not share it, I wouldn't even read it myself. I respect the privacy of others, even once they've passed on.

[Joe the Photog]

I keep a journal and in my head, I am doing so for others to read after I pass on. I don't edit it and I hope no one else will either. To edit someone else's writings seems wrong to me as if you are ashamed of who they were. I do not mind my loved ones seeing all my warts.

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Originally Posted by jmcahacker

My ex's grandmother was a writer of sorts and kept journals and wrote poetry. After her death my ex mother in law found some of the journals etc and had parts copied for all the grandchildren (she was the widow of their only child) but she took out the poems and pages that she called "dark". I suspect Grandma suffered from depression as it was an arranged marriage and he was not a kind man according to my ex. My mother in law feels the grandchildren don't need to read the negative as they already know it wasn't a happy story and they don't need details. I'm rather torn in my opinion as I feel it does Grandma somewhat of a disservice to just blot out half of her feelings but then again who knows if she really ever intended for anyone to read ANY of it.

I'm just curious on other's thoughts. Did any of you have to make such a decision or if you did, what would you do? Edit out the gloom or just let the writer speak for themselves?

I agree, it's not up to anyone to censor the journals. If people want to read them, they can read them. If not, don't.

My great grandfather kept journals. Lots of them. My mother sold some of them, after she died I found a letter from the guy who'd bought them. He said he'd destroyed some because of drug use, possibly cocaine, I don't know what they used for pain killers around the 1900s. He'd fought in the Civil War and likely had PTSD plus there was lots of alcohol abuse down the line.

Yet that is history, history is a story, it's not a fairy tale.

Let the truth be there for those who want it. Depression can run in families, you don't know who might be helped by reading of grandmother's trials and tribulations.