ANY OLD STORY WILL DO

Indigenous author Richard Wagamese once wrote that stories are medicine.  There was a time when I thought I knew exactly what he meant: the ability of stories to heal our wounds, when we share those stories with others.  Stories can cure what ails us when we tell them to someone else...it might be just one other person or many.  That's what I thought.

I've come to understand that stories are more than a healing balm or a cure.  I think stories are also a form of preventative medicine, a treatment that I can store or build up inside for the times when inevitably, I need something to help me get back on track or refocus on what's important  in life.  In those times when things are falling apart around me, or when nothing seems to be working as planned, stories have the power to get me grounded again and moving forward.

Stories are like food preserved in the summer and fall and set aside for later consumption in the depths of winter bleakness.  Stories are like money set aside when things are going really well, something to fall back on when times get tight.  Stories are like laying down a solid foundation for future construction.

When I walked into our living room early one morning, I saw the scene shown in the photo.  There was someone with a book close by a lamp; in the shadows, others gathered around, all of them listening, some of them peering over a shoulder to see a picture.  Three generations were present, listening to a story being shared.  It hardly matters what the story was - what was important was the gathering, the telling, the listening, the sinking in, the putting away.  And, every person present will experience that differently, like a book that was written just for them.

It's the stuff that lives are made of.  Who knows when or how that will come back to the surface for those present?   

Pat

Take This Thought Away With You

"All that we are is story...

It is what we arrive with.

It is all we leave behind."

~ Richard Wagamese ~