Everyone Has a Story

I must admit to being very curious about theirs. I will never know, of course but there was something about this image of two strangers that captured my interest and got me thinking about how valuable individual stories are.

My grandson Peter is a high school senior this year and we have been discussing the essays he needs to write for college applications. The University of California asks, "What do you want us to know about you?" To which Peter responds , "I don't know...I'm just an ordinary white kid from suburbia." I thought about it for awhile, and then said, "Peter, everyone has a story. It's a matter of thinking which ones you want to tell...."

Years ago, I was talking to my friend Ann Hyde, a college professor of history who was researching a book. I commented that the internet much have saved her from having to do a lot of research in dusty libraries and archives. She said that anybody could post whatever they wanted on the internet but there was no proof without doing the research, finding a connection between the stories and the truth.

Another friend met a man at a book signing who had sailed alone in a small boat across the Atlantic  and written about it. She wound up marrying him, building a boat and sailing around the world with him. The journey took several years, and when she got back she told me about her journey. I encouraged her to write about it  and she said, " Oh, I couldn't do that. I haven't done anything interesting..."

My parents were both at Pearl Harbor on the day it was attacked by the Japanese. My brother and I heard the story countless times and tuned it out, but now that they are both gone, I realize that my mother told only a small part of the story and my father didn't talk about it at all.There are more questions than answers.  It is interesting that, although Japanese living on the West Coast were interned following this attack, the ones living right in Hawaii were not. 

My friends Jean Howe and William Ingram have lived in Bali, Indonesia for 25 years where they created Threads of Life, a fair trade business that works with culture and conservation to make heirloom quality baskets and textiles. They have been very careful to work directly with weavers, helping them form independent weaving and dying cooperatives. They don't tell the women what to do. They help them  to recover ancient skills lost to cheap dyes, artificial fibers and tourism.

I feel that we are all inclined to downplay the importance of our own lives in the grand scheme of things. But most of us don't live out our lives on a grand stage. Nor do we live them out in a vacuum. We have successes and wrestle with problems.  We laugh, cry dance and mourn on a small scale. But we are all small pieces in a large puzzle. Our stories are important. It is my hope that the more we can talk to each other, sharing our stories, the more hope there will be for creating a fair and just society.