your story deserves to be told

I’m pretty sure Mother Earth wobbled on her axis last week when another child died a wholly preventable death from measles, putting the rest of us on alert because you can't tell by looking at a person if they have been vaccinated or not. I imagine the planet careening out of orbit as another helicopter took a nose dive into the Hudson River killing all aboard...including three children who were enjoying a sight-seeing tour of Manhattan.

The urgent and passionate stories that erupt in the aftermath of tragedies like these hold us spellbound…horrified…as fear and sorrow unfold before our eyes. We have witnessed accounts of terror, helplessness, grief, and pain. We've heard stories of courage, strength, compassion, and faith.

I don’t know about you, but those stories silenced me. The worries I harbor, the sadness I feel, the losses I face in my own life pale by comparison. Who, I wonder, would want to hear about them?

"Writing is a struggle

against silence."

~Carlos Fuentes~

For example, I could tell you about a friend whose husband died of complications after a long bout of heart failure. I could tell you what a sweet man he was, how much they loved one another, and how much he is missed. I could tell you about a wonderful man who drowned, alone, in his backyard pool this week, one day shy of his ninetieth birthday. You probably already know how hard it is for friends who have lost their jobs or are bracing to close their businesses given this week's political chaos...all of it matched by the magnitude of the suffering we routinely witness on the news every day.

Perhaps something like this has happened to you. You went mute because your story sounded dull or ordinary or immaterial by comparison. You felt it was unworthy to be heard. Or unnecessary to tell.

"Write what should not be forgotten."

~Isabel Allende~

It doesn’t take a natural disaster or a or a violent uprising to shut storytellers down. We do it to ourselves all the time. We trivialize the course of our own lives, lock away our memories, and dismiss our thoughts, feelings, and convictions because we doubt ourselves. We tell ourselves our stories aren’t important...

"Write hard and clear

about what hurts."

~Ernest Hemingway~

...when, in fact, everyone’s story deserves to be told. To be heard. Storytelling is not a contest to see whose narrative is the scariest or saddest or most horrifying. Rather, it’s the pathway to truth as each of us experiences it. 

"You can't make this stuff up."

~Lee Gutkind~

jan