The power of stories
One of the hardest things for me to do is make decisions. I go back and forth between my options. For instance, I was debating whether to do this personal point as recently as yesterday. Now what really helps when you’re having a hard time making a decision is to have someone tell you “this is what you should do.” One of the reasons I’m a UU is that I don’t accept what people tell me. When someone tells me what to do, its makes the decision even more complicated, because now I have to decide rather to trust this person’s judgment and intent as well.

I find myself often turning to stories for help. I became very much aware of this last year when I had to do a science project that I really didn’t want to do. I didn’t see any reason for it, but I was unwilling to take the grade penalty for not doing it. I was going to work on it one afternoon and I said to myself, “Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t want to do.” This line, though is sounds cliché, didn’t come from some file of things parents say; it came from a TV show I watch. The character saying it is about to release facts that he know will lead to a war between his allies. If he doesn’t release the facts people will still find out eventually and in addition to everything else, they will also blame him for not telling them what he knew. It’s a no-win situation but he makes the choice and then he has to follow through on it.

When my dad tells me I have to do things I don’t want to do, I get angry. I say “you’re trying to control me. You think I’m still a little kid.” But when the hero of a story says the same thing, speaking not of me but of himself, it has more power because isn’t about me. It’s simply someone, albeit imaginary, living their life and telling me all their mistakes and all their triumphs. When I can remember a character having problems when I’m having problems, it doesn’t matter how empty my house is, I’m not alone. When characters do noble deeds and change their world, I remember that life is more that just waking up and going to school. And when a character is leading a life the way I would like to lead mine, I have a place to go for advice knowing I can trust it.

So when I was doing my project and I thought of the words and the story, I remembered that my problem was not so big and had hope that I was being like the hero and leading my life well.


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