A collection of the stories I have been fortunate enough to tell over the past few years.
The only thing that can change the world is story.
It can rally nations toward the future.
Or shake a person from the past
Story allows us to look through the eyes of our neighbor
Or walk in battles we could never understand.
They give shape and form to emotion
They lift our heads and whisper “I see you.”
But story is an ambivalent machine,
Just as it can enlighten, it has the power to oppress
To hold people from their potential
To paint with a broad and ugly brush
And make enemies out of allies
Yet it is the only way for us to grow
Every political movement, every cultural shift, every person who has lifted themselves out of their circumstances started with a story.
A myth of how life could be
A myth they repeated until it was true.
Story allows us to confront our own nature,
To peer into our animal instincts,
and choose to rise above.
We will not be here forever,
Our lives are a vapor,
Sparks flying into the void of night
But through story, we can outlive ourselves.
We commune with our descendants
And tell them “I see you”
The only thing that can change the world is story
So tell a good one.
