The Power of Story
by Christina Baldwin • Freeland, WA

True stories of ordinary people are the most inspiring things we share. Stories talk about action and stories inspire action. Stuck in traffic, we look for the story: Why is everybody stopped? We scan radio stations. Finally we creep over a rise and see bent metal, flashing lights. We have all driven by such scenes, grateful that we aren’t involved.

But, maybe we are the first on the scene. We pull over and jump out, approach the wrecked vehicles, calling, "Are you all right?" A young woman is bleeding, "My baby…" she says, "get the baby out…" And perhaps you are a twenty-five year old car mechanic with a stranger’s baby crying in your tattooed arms, and you start singing a Polish lullaby your grandmother taught you. The child calms and you tell the mother, "Here, take my bandana and apply pressure to that cut on your forehead. I think you’re okay, it’s mostly blood…"

This is a life-changing story activated by one event. Soon the patrol cars come, the ambulance comes, someone takes the baby and it’s all over, except your arms feel empty and you can’t stop humming that lullaby. Story changes what we believe about ourselves. You start collecting baby blankets and teddy bears to be stored in the local highway patrol cars. You tell the story over and over– each time remembering the woman, the baby, how you felt in that moment. A television station calls and you’re on the local 6:00 news. Later you hear that someone started the same movement in another city, and then another. By telling the story, you understand the experience and imbed it into your memory. The stories that grow from such moments can travel way beyond the lives of anyone directly involved. In the age of global communication someone across the world can say, "Hey, I read about this guy… this mother… this baby…"

The young man could have driven by. He chose to respond and lived out a story that made him a hero. When we share our actions through story, we give other people inspiration, information and courage to act. When we risk being the better part of ourselves, we make a better world.

Story offers every person the chance to make a better world through the power of words.

Do you want to fulfill your personal dreams? Make sure you are carrying a story in which you tell yourself you are capable of doing the things you want to do with your life– and then live up to your story. A little girl wanted to be a dancer. She wasn’t automatically good at it– she just practiced. She’s not famous, but she’s a good dancer with a local troupe. Life stories can be realistic and daring.

You can also help others develop a helpful story. A kindergarten teacher heard a student say, "I can’t do that…"

She asked, "What would you need to believe in yourself?"

"…to be strong like a lion."

"Okay," she said. "Let’s make a story about you and a friendly lion who helps you grow into a strong and caring person." Stories support people’s imagination.

Do you want a better neighborhood, workplace or organization? The next time someone says, "Jim is always blocking constructive action. I just can’t work with him," tell the story about the time you got snowed into the parking lot and there was Jim, shoveling you out. Stories can highlight actions that shift our expectations of each other.

Do you want a kinder community or country? We can hear each other’s stories in ways we cannot hear each other’s opinions. Two neighbors, one Republican, one Democrat, found shared values in recycling when they walked a roadside clean up crew together. It gave them a way to begin discovering commonality. Stories champion human goodness, however it shows up.

Two people can have almost identical experiences and create very different stories out of them. Story gives us the power to choose: we can turn tragedy into triumph, and we can turn triumph into tragedy. When we practice the power of story, we can help set loose the stories that make for happier lives.

• A parent and a teenager caught in misunderstanding go camping. They put questions for each other into a hat and draw out the slips of paper one at a time.

• A couple sets aside one hour a month to read to each other from their journals– not commenting, just listening to the private story of each other’s life.

• A team of people assigned a difficult task decide to write their strategic plan as a mythic story and then fulfill their roles as heroes and helpers.

When we know each other at the level of story we create relationship and community. Life is richer. Streets are safer. All it takes is a little courage to turn to someone and start a conversation: What’s your favorite birthday? Who’s been your most creative teacher? What’s the best thing that happened to you last year? When did you take a risk that turned out really well?

Let’s tell each other those stories.

Christina Baldwin is the author of Storycatcher: Making Sense of our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story, New World Library, Novato, CA. www.newworldlibrary.com, 800-972-6657 ext. 52. Find out more at www.storycatcher.net.