The Power of Stories Reflection

(Ray, 2019)

This module was about the incredible power stories can have when it comes to our ability to understand and connect with each other as human beings, and it made me think a little about how intertwined the history of storytelling is with the history of humanity in general. Humans have been telling stories from the very beginning, ever since we first learned to communicate with each other, and they have played a significant part in our ability to both inform and entertain. Over time, new methods of storytelling were developed and utilized, to the point where we’re now able to tell stories in any number of ways, ranging from traditional oral storytelling to books, TV shows, movies, and even video games (which I touched on in particular in my last blog post). While each of these formats has its own unique method of getting stories across to their respective audiences, they are all capable of eliciting powerful emotions from these audiences and can help encourage them to develop a much deeper and clearer understanding of various issues than simply presenting them with raw facts and statistics. This, at least to me, is why stories are important; they can really help put important issues into context and greatly aid in people’s understanding of them.

As human beings, I believe we each have our own distinct story that tends to showcase our own unique lived experiences, which is why it’s important for people to have the opportunity to share their stories with others who are interested in hearing and learning from them. The human library program covered in a number of this module’s readings seems to be a remarkable way to help provide these opportunities; this program may have started in 2000 in Denmark, but a great number of libraries in other countries, including in the U.S., have started offering it as well. It allows human volunteers, often those who have been misjudged or stereotyped, to be “checked out” like books by participating members of the library community and have unique conversations with them as they provide advice and answer any questions presented to them (Wentz, 2013). Something like this definitely brings new meaning to the phrase “I am an open book”, and it can definitely help community members share their stories and experiences with each other as well as help contribute to a better understanding of countless topics and issues among the community as a whole. As The Doctor in Doctor Who once said, “We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?”

References:

Ray, M. (2019, April 12). Courageous conversations at the human library. Next Avenue. https://www.nextavenue.org/courageous-conversations-human-library/

Wentz, E. (2013, April 26). The human library: Sharing the community with itself. Public Libraries Association. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/04/human_librar/