April 15, 2006 - Day 4 - Week 2 - Telling the Story

Human communities are often defined by the quality of their story telling.  When the ancient folks celebrated their rites of passage they would sit around the campfire at night and tell stories. The entire book of psalms in the Old Testament is really a compilation of stories passed on through an oral tradition and then later written down.  Who among us does not delight in the image, if not in the actual experience, of sitting around a campfire watching the burning embers and listening to a camp counselor, scout leader or family member tell a story.  Stories by a grandmother or grandfather, and in the Kreitler tradition often repeated to the delight and amusement of younger generations, tie us to special events well worth remembering.

When we lose our ability to tell the collective story the wisdom goes out of the culture very rapidly.  Mandatory family story telling would be a good antidote to a family disintegrating, and the dinner table is often the best place to listen. Passover or Seder meals, Easter brunches or dinners, and the communal breaking of bread is a wonderful vehicle for passing on the family history.  This is at least one place set aside where any and all ages are granted permission to be a story teller.

Oftentimes the family story telling time is the best teaching moment.  Listening to the elders in our culture should be mandatory.  Granted one of the hour glass timers might be placed on a few tables, but the wisdom of the elderly is too often wasted because we do not value story telling enough.

Perhaps, in our family we have a new chapter that will be told over and over again. It will include the re-telling of the how and hopefully the why of cancer. As importantly, it will highlight the community care and the Kreitler team that will be the healing factor.   Cards, letters, emails, gifts, and phone calls are an outward expression of care and have become part of the collective story. The medical treatment, the alternative therapies, the dietary suggestions and a whole host of other factors that contribute to this new story being told will be highlighted.

Break bread, tell stories, and good things happen.  Thanks for being a part of my story.