Storytelling

I love to tell stories.

Ever since I was a little girl, I would take my toys (or on some occasions my hands) and tell stories. As a child they were were entirely fantasy, not based on anything in my life. They were all about a lizard searching for his father in a strange world. As I grew up, and lost my lizard toy, I ended up creating stories with more in depth plot lines, drama, and sometimes I even recreated conversations from earlier that day.

And as I became more busy, the toys remained on my bed or in a drawer. They were always ready to tell a story or two, but perhaps they weren’t quite the right characters anymore.

I needed an audience.

My family was my first “audience,” if you will. Because my parents fostered a spirit of trust in our household, I always knew that I could tell them everything. I could walk through my entire school day, share every grade and concept, and I could tell them every interaction I had. If I did something wrong, they could help me figure out how to do better the next time, and they loved me through each moment.

When I got my license, I encouraged my siblings to do the same with me. Some of the most powerful conversations I have had in my life, including the one which lead to my reversion, took place behind the wheel.

And as I moved on to college, and even graduate school, I gave people a place to share their stories.

Stories not only entertain others, but they reveal truths about the storyteller.

When we take the time to listen to a story, we get to partake in another human’s life. In an inexplicable way, we are transported to another time where we can sit in the midst of another soul. If you choose to actively listen and empathetically share in their experience, it doesn’t matter what someone shares with you. The story could be about how they prepared their chicken last night, or it could be about how they went on an insane trip in Canada, and that opportunity to be with them would be just as valuable.

Every story we tell gives a piece of our lives to others.

And each life, whether it is unborn or near its end, is valuable.

However, there is a very important piece in storytelling that we need to think about. When you tell a story, you need to give the rationale behind the characters’ actions. Sure, you can tell people all of the facts, but that does not reveal the truth.

The audience needs to participate.

They need to ask “why?”

Let’s take a very simple example: your favorite animal. If you were to just tell someone that you liked elephants, then they would not necessarily know anything about you. However, if they were to ask why you loved elephants, then you could share why you liked that how they walked on their toes and were highly aware of all of the little animals around them. By explaining why, you get to share how you value those who live with a presence but are still aware of all others around them.

The why is what makes us who we are.

Now, your audience may not be able to ask why yet. 

We cannot expect everyone to be like my parents, who asked about everything and anything and encouraged my siblings and I to be as authentic as humanly possible. Perhaps people do not know that “why?” is even a valid question when we tell a story.

So we need to give people the why:

Here is a great Ted Talk (Long Version) on why:

We buy people’s why. Because we are not the person or organization in front of us, we cannot fully understand all of the inner workings of their lives. However, when we see their greater purpose, we can’t help but acknowledge them.

This became abundantly clear at the CelluLART Meeting in Toledo last Friday. I gave my first ever Oral Presentation, and I told the STARD9 Story in front of the scientist who will be reviewing our big paper. I knew the story so well by that point that when I get nervous in a social setting the phrase, “STARD9 is a Novel Transmembrane Kinesin that is Required for Purkinje Cell Survival” was the only one that comes to mind.

I knew all of the experiments. I knew the work. I knew the blood, sweat, and tears required to generate the data. I could probably write the story verbatim here, but I do not wish to lose your attention Dear Reader.

This time I told the STARD9 story was different. I had to tell the audience why our protein was so important so our reviewers would publish our paper.

So I gave them a why.

This time I told them why each piece of STARD9 was needed to make the structure required to keep the cerebellum alive. I told them that these all needed to be together with another protein, NPC1, in order to make this happen. I told them why we thought STARD9 could make this happen.

When I could see that the audience knew why we believed STARD9 was important, I switched the slide to show that STARD9 did exactly what we proposed.

I heard a few gasps.

People moved forward in their chairs.

Because I finally gave the audience a why for our STARD9 story, they were able to connect to it in a way that I had never seen before. My friends back home knew why STARD9 mattered because I told them over and over. This audience had never seen our work, and many of them worked on entirely different complexes. However, because they bought our why, they were able to connect to the story.

Many high power professors stopped me in the hallway to thank me for the talk.

It was by far my greatest storytelling moment as a scientist.

However, there is another story that we should all be willing to share, and sometimes we do not need a single word to share that tale. It is a tale that has been told throughout the ages, and it is a tale that many know but are unwilling to accept. It is a tale of heroism, a tale of tragedy, a tale of hilarity, a tale of victory.

The greatest story I can ever tell is that of how Jesus Christ bore all of my sin on The Cross and died for me.

And He became bread and wine.

Fed by the Blessed Sacrament, I am able to remember Jesus as He is, was, and always will be. Consumed by His love, I can live my life. There is nothing perfect about me, but He is the perfect part of me that cannot be taken from me.

You do not need to share every single word of your story to tell of Christ’s victory over sin and death. All you need to do is live your life, and live it well. Each of us has a different story, and each soul has a different reason to smile, to dance, to be joyful.

Joy looks different on everyone.

But it can be seen by anyone.

A few souls have shared with me that they did not know why the world is brighter in my presence, but they know that something is there. They say that it is something that they knew once, but in the darkness of this world they forgot where the source of that light is found. Without words, without prompts, they come to me, and they find the Salvation Story on their own. 

Most of their stories end where I am not able to hear them, but I have faith that God takes them towards true joy.

But I do not shy away when people ask me to share my story. I will speak on that at a later date though.

“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” 

~1 Peter 3:15

But for now my Dear Readers, do not fear the world. Do not be afraid to tell your stories, both the spoken and the unspoken. Do not be afraid to give your why, and do not be afraid to ask someone else for their why’s.

All human life is precious.

And each story is important.

Perhaps it’s time we took a listen.