Why Stories Matter

"Storytelling, recognized in every society as a way of making sense of cultural roots or social reality, is an elaborate form of metaphor, and memoir is its masterpiece: life stories enable us to share insights and enhance mutual understanding in a social, political, psychological and spiritual sense. Memoir is revolutionary precisely because, when shared, it's a way towards the truth." In this essay, Paul Tritschler skillfully demonstrates how sharing our human stories can connect us, change us, even save us. As common travelers on this earth, we are more similar than different, kept apart by our own mental barriers. Here, Tritschler shares two experiences from his journey where he learned about empathy, altruism, joy, and sacrifice from strangers who broke down barriers with little more than their human spirit.