Liz Warren | Storyteller

"Come
in!" exclaimed the Ghost. "Come in! and know me better, man!"

Scrooge
entered timidly, and hung his head before this Spirit. He was not the dogged
Scrooge he had been; and though the Spirit's eyes were clear and kind, he did
not like to meet them.

"I am
the Ghost of Christmas Present," said the Spirit. "Look upon
me!"

The line from the classic tale of A Christmas Carol has spoken
to me during many of the readings from our text and each time we have shared
stories in our classroom.  As the ghost of Christmas present called to
scrooge to come in, so do we as personal storytellers open ourselves up and ask
our listeners to know us better. 

The stories that we are sharing
with one another and hopefully, eventually, with others, give insight into our
psyche and our hearts and our souls.  I think the experience is as important
for the listener as it is for the teller.  As we share these personal
moments we see each other as human beings because we are sharing a part of our
humanity.  Once we have felt the joys, heartaches, tears, fears, or any
other emotions rise in us as we listen, we realize that we too have experiences
that we have had to pass through that need to be shared. 

Never at any time did this
feeling of self-expression hit with such force as the night I shared the story
of Ms. Marin and my experience in her class.  This was a difficult story
to frame because I wanted to craft it into something that, first of all, did
not scare me away from telling it.  Second of all, I wanted to frame it
into a story that would express the beauty of the feelings of love and humanity
that I felt as a result of my experience with her. 

My experience of peeing my
pants was a very vulnerable moment from my childhood.  It was also a
defining moment in my life.  As I presented it, I could literally feel
years of fear and embarrassment being lifted from me.  Wow, another
defining moment!  What a cathartic experience!  Imagine the progress
the human race could make if more of us took the time to communicate on this
level.

 

A final thought:

Over the last 48 hours I have
had four different experiences listening to Donald Davis share both his
personal stories and his insights of storytelling.  He invited us each
time into his world as a child, son and brother.  He also invited us into
his world as a teacher, or his world as a husband, friend and father. 
With each story I felt that I was invited in to know him better as a fellow
human.  Each insight he shared asked me to know him better as a
storyteller.  An invitation I gladly accepted and enjoyed.