The next day I thought about that statement a lot longer
than my sun-frazzled brain should have, because, I wasn’t really sure if she was
correct. Sure, I may have some
great stories, but so does she, and so does nearly every other human being I
have ever been trapped in an elevator with, talked to in a slow grocery store
line or been squished next to on a red-eye airplane flight.
I am the type of person who will unashamedly strike up a
conversation with almost anyone. The group of little old ladies at the gym, the
bored looking teenager at the DMV, the crazy looking, obviously armed, tattooed
biker who is waiting in line for his drink at a coffee shop, I have no problem making eye contact, smirking and saying, “Hello.”
Due to the fact that my mother burned any sense of shame I
might have ever possessed out of me at a very young age, combined with a low
fear of danger affecting my person, I have gotten to hear remarkable,
fascinating, joyous, heart-wrenching, funny and courageous stories from around the
world.
The thing that constantly amazes me is how much coaxing it
often takes to assure someone that no, really, I do want to hear their stories.
When I profess an interest in hearing a random snippet of someone’s life I’m
usually given a facial expression that someone might reserve for looking at a
penguin that magically just begun singing and dancing The Time Warp.
I’m not talking, necessarily about deep personal stories
that someone might only want to share with a therapist (though, I have heard
those as well). I’m talking the everyday, my grandmother used to live across
from my high school and bake me cookies every day, I used to have a job working
as a telemarketer and I had this one crazy call, I once taught myself how to
build chairs from scratch, stories.
It saddens me that so many people believe that their stories
are worth so little. Our stories, as an extension of our experiences, make us
who we are.
So let me encourage anyone who happens to be reading this to
not only listen to others’ stories, but to share your own. No, seriously, go
and tell a story to your friends, post a moment from your life here in the
comments, strike up a conversation with a stranger and find out you have
something in common. Your stories are part of what make you unique, so why not share bits of
you with others?
