Telling our stories matters because it is critical that we advocate for ourselves and speak our truths. Because if we don’t, who will? For many of us, our stories have been erased, censored, or butchered. Storytelling is not just about self-expression; it’s about survival and existence. Whether it be creating poetry, embroidery, or music, or your grandmother sitting you in the corner telling you her childhood chronicles, existence is resistance when you share a part of yourself while others try so hard to silence you.
It is essential that, through storytelling, truth is preserved when history is distorted. According to The New York Times, “Storytelling is also the gateway to truth-telling, which helps inform our opinions, decision-making, and self-views. Sharing our stories allows us to come together, declare what our values are, and act on them” (nytimes.com). Believe it or not, you engage in storytelling every day through social media, photography, class essays, and lunchtime conversations.
We shape our identities and tell our stories, and the stories of our ancestors, by existing on this very earth and engaging in discussion. Storytelling also allows us to learn from the past and, hopefully, not repeat history by highlighting certain atrocities or hardships. “It’s impossible to imagine a world in which our ancestors did not share their journeys of enslavement, persecution, horror, honor, hope, and triumph” (nytimes.com).
In our current times, perceptions of the world are often stripped of humanity and tenderness. When we can gather and truly listen to one another in hopes of understanding and respecting, and not necessarily agreeing, we build the human connections we were created to embody. According to Boston University, “Storytelling is a way that people can relate to each other, and stories have long been used as a way to get people thinking about viewpoints beyond their own as well as to express our experiences to others” (sites.bu.edu).
Words are not fleeting; they are etched in every part of us. Every human on this earth has internalized ideologies that shape their daily interactions, which they likely extracted from family beliefs or society’s expectations. That is why storytelling is so revolutionary. It breaks the shackles of normalization and allows the world to sit in the healthy uncomfortable. Junior Layal Aziz said, “Storytelling allows me to step back from my point of view and insert myself in others’ narratives. It’s easy to become close-minded when you tend to be indifferent to others’ lives and stuck in your own. That is why I believe it’s important to be a good listener because you never know what you may learn from others.”
Even if you don’t give TED talks or write award-winning articles for The New York Times, your voice not only matters, but it is the future. We are all the authors of our own stories, and no one should tell you otherwise. Aziz said, “It’s essential that we as youth speak up and ease any worries of judgment because when we lack courage and bravery to tell our stories, our society will become more susceptible to believing that our voices don’t matter and we deserve to be silenced.”