The Freedom to Create

Throughout the history of humankind much of the narrative of daily life has been aural, from long narratives to short anecdotes, passed on from generation to generation.

For millennia, most of us were without the means to learn to read or to write down our thoughts and experiences. The past few centuries have changed all of that. But I believe that even amid the plethora of instant information in our technologically overwhelming world, deep within all of us is the need to tell and hear the personal narrative of each other’s lives.

As young adults and then young parents, my husband Tom and I chose to live without cable and for a while, even without a TV in our home. The reasons for this were many, including but not limited to the financial drain of monthly cable bills. I recall the final decision to free ourselves from this modern day convenience came one Sunday afternoon when a sibling came for a ‘visit’. He said hello, walked over to the TV, turned it on, and proceeded to sit on the sofa for hours, hardly saying a word to us. When he was done, he got up, turned off the tv, and as he walked out the door, he waved a brief goodbye. Tom and I much preferred a good book to most of what was on TV, and after this incident we decided that the cable would go. If our sibs wanted to come over, it would be to visit with us!

Radio, books, books, and more books, newspapers, magazines, music, recorded lectures and conference talks became our connection with the world. As we started and then added to our family, our four children created their own entertainment. They read stories to each other, crafted their own plays, performed them, sang, choreographed, wrote and played music, danced, and frequently transformed the unfinished half of our basement into a series of adventure playgrounds (shipwreck, spacecraft, cave, log cabin, treehouse, submarine, apartments, and prairie schooner to name just a few). Despite the lack of daily mainstream media in our home we managed to raise 4 brilliant kids, with 11 post secondary degrees, diplomas and certifications between the 6 of us.

I believe that the key to all of this creativity and accomplishment was the freedom we gave them to make their own adventures, to tell the stories of their past experiences, to play out their hopes for the future, to live even momentarily in the world of their dreams, and envision a way for their desires come to fruition. None of them seem to have suffered from not viewing the latest episode of The Simpsons or Friends, or seeing Michael Jackson’s latest music video, but rather to have thrived because they were forced to build a creative world of their own making.

Now that Tom and I are grandparents, one of the most frequent requests I get from the grandkids are “Grandma, tell me a story.” They never tire of hearing about the lives, exploits, adventures and misadventures of their parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and ancestors. I’ve noticed that even the 16 year old frequently sits within earshot, though he often pretends that he’s not listening!

This past COVID summer, I spent the good part of one hot afternoon on the big back deck of my daughter Laura’s house (socially distanced of course), sitting under the shade of their umbrella, telling story after story after story to 5 year old Maggie. Almost before the last words of one story were out of my mouth, her immediate reply was “Tell me another one!”. I guess the two of us are kindred spirits as her most recent kindergarten report card stated “she will share a story with anyone she bumps into”.

So my message to you, my friends, is that your stories, no matter how insignificant they may seem to you, are an important part of who you are and they matter not just to your family and friends, but to the world. Our ‘stories’ are a rich and necessary part of the connections that we share with every other human being on this beautiful planet. Don’t be afraid to share your life, your journey, the strange or sorrowful or heartwarming or loving or funny or quirky details that are the sum of your time upon the earth.

And even if your words should happen to fall upon deaf or uncaring human ears, Our Loving Father hears them with delight.