Storytelling

I love to tell stories. This is a tradition that I have learned honestly from my family. My father, my uncle and my grandfather will all tell stories that will have you howling with laughter and questioning them mercilessly about how they came up with such things. I tend to tell different stories. They are no less or more true because I tell them differently. They are simply different.

Most of my stories are written down, as opposed to the oral tradition my family's stories seem to take. I never thought I would miss writing stories. I was forced to write them while in school, and then I decided that I would write different things once I left high school. I'd forgotten the feeling that a story takes when it needs to be told, needs to be written. There is no other feeling like it in the world, no compulsion greater to force you to put down whatever you are working on and pay attention to the voice inside your head. I hadn't thought about it in a long time because I hadn't felt that in so long. It's like seeing someone you used to know after a long time. You hadn't thought of them, but when you do, all the memories come rushing back and you remember once again.

Story telling is beginning to be a lost art in many places of the world. Whole histories of societies were passed down in an oral tradition, using stories to make the past more memorable to the people. We so rarely take the time to listen to those around us that many of those things are being lost. Histories, languages and myths are disappearing as the older generations begin to pass on. Stories were told when sitting around the fire on cold winter nights when nothing could be done outside. We have lost that tradition in most cultures and that's too bad. There are few things nicer than curling up in front of a roaring fire and learning new things.

I love listening to stories. I used to love being read to, but now I love being the one reading. They may not be my own stories or words that I'm reading, but the sound and the power they have is incredible. The myths and tales from former generations are still powerful and there is something for us to learn from them. It is a shame that we are losing these stories that deserve to be heard.

Telling stories is a lost art. Or at least one we are losing. We shouldn't allow this to happen. Stories are the lifeblood of our societies. It is what our societies were built on and what we have come from. It shows how we have changed and how we continue to grow. When we tell stories, we are able to bond with those around us and create a common past. It may be a common past of heritage, of experience or simply of humanity. We tell stories to explain ourselves to each other, but sometimes we are most able to come to a deeper understanding of ourselves at the same time. That is what story telling is. We need to keep it and we need to find a safe way to share it with each other.