Woman in the Rain

People watching (Photo credit: Wiiinston)

It’s All About Stories

Life is stories. I guess that’s why I find reading, writing, history, traveling, and people watching so fascinating. I like to eavesdrop on conversations, study people and try to glean their stories. I have a passion for movies which is just another way of sharing stories. I love standing in historic places and imaging what life was like and listening for voices from the past. I enjoy thinking about what life might be like in the future. I relish meeting people from other cultures and learning their customs and thoughts about life.

Everyone has stories. Some of those stories are more interesting and exciting than most of us could dream up. Man has listened to stories around campfires since they first lived in groups. Today, whether it’s at a social get-together or around the water cooler at work we listen to people telling interesting, funny, or sad stories. If we meet friends for dinner we sit around the restaurant table relating stories. At family gatherings we pass down the stories from the elders to children, just as it has always been.

A story is special because it ties us together, captures our humanness across the ages and over every ethnic group. Stories teach us values and lessons and they evoke a wide range of emotions. We need stories no matter what form they come in, because human life is all about stories.