|
|
Dalton
Roberts |
|
|
|
Most of the lessons that stuck with
me in this life came from stories. Both of my parents were storytellers
and our storytellers are the real creators of our character and values. Einstein said in The World As I
See It, “I didn’t arrive at my understanding of the fundamental
laws of the Universe through my rational mind. If you want your children
to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want them to be very
brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales.” Why would such a great scientist
play down rationality and play up fairy tales? The answer is not complex
when you think about it. He saw the great truth that imagination is the
highest capacity of human intelligence. Everything that have improved
life for the masses came from someone’s imagination, not from their
rational thought processes. The characters in fairy tales are
powerful icons of consciousness. Our minds dwell on those icons until
they become tools that direct our living. The same thing is true of our
family stories. An old man with a handlebar moustache who lectured in
mother’s junior high school classes at a rural north Alabama school
they called “slab college” has been one of my guides through a story
he passed on to her about a man who strained a contaminant from a milk
bucket as he milked a cow and said “strain out the bad and save the
good.” She chuckled over that story but that made it stick in my mind
even more than the serious ones about ogres and big bad wolves. Humorous
stories are more durable. Jesus, another masterful
storyteller, used parables (stories) to illustrate his teachings. We
carry on a lot about the ten commandments but it’s really the stories
in the Bible that shape us, not the thou shalts and the thou shalt nots.
We have a built-in resistance to lectures and people who command us to
do something or not to do something. The way to hook us is with a story. There is a powerful sculpture in
the Bluff View Sculpture Garden of the father welcoming home the
prodigal son. I stand in rapt awe each time I see it. That is my
favorite biblical story. I think we all have deserted the glory of our
best self at times and found ourself in pig pens eating corn husks. It
is embarrassing but no matter how overwhelming is the avalanche of
guilt, there is restoration and forgiveness. Alice Walker wrote that our stories are our lives. Each day contains it’s own stories. Some of them may be viewed as not-so-memorable but we fail to capture some that are eminently worthy of collection and respectful storage. My storage container is my personal
journal. It has turned out to be my greatest teacher. It contains the
wisdom of my family, friends, and the best minds I bump into as I walk
the path of life. Lately I have realized that some of
the best stories passed on to me by my parents and some from my own life
should be extracted and put on a disc for my family. They are scattered
among the 130 volumes of my journal but wouldn’t it be a joy to have
the cream of the crop on a disc for my children? Save your stories while you can.
For starters, call a family gabfest asking each person to bring one of
their favorite family stories. Tape them and then copy the tape for
everyone. Or transfer them into print and run off a disc on your
computer for everyone. Stories are like beautiful dreams.
They evaporate from memory quickly unless you write or tape them. When
you lose one, you lose a precious slice of your life. Einstein was half right. Fairy
tales are important but true life stories contain more icons of deep
personal meaning. Embrace them and they will enrich every day of your
life. Enjoy Dalton's website at www.daltonroberts.com
or his gathered writings at www.ipsfeatures.com.
Write him at DownhomeP@aol.com
or DaltonRoberts@comcast.net.
|
