What We Can Learn From Reading or Hearing People’s Stories

1. We have no idea of what load the person before us is carrying. That perky woman with the cheerful demeanor and broad smile might be nursing a tremendous heartache because of losing her children to a perplexing hereditary condition. That man with the big personality and welcoming smile may have overcome a history of addiction or violence. We don’t know what other people are going through or have endured, and that should lead us to treat everyone with kindness, compassion, and curiosity.

2. We can process a lot of grief, guilt, and trauma through telling our stories. Tell your story to a friend, a pastor, or a therapist. If you don’t have someone to listen to your story, write it down. Or you could do what Charles Manson’s grandson did. He put all his anger and resentment into an imaginary bag and pantomimed throwing that bag on the side of the road. Just get it out so it doesn’t control you.

3. As we talked with about their stories, we wanted to know how each person overcame their situation. We found that every one of them had two common factors:
• They had one or more people who helped or supported them in some way.
• The faith they had or the faith they found gave them strength to overcome their problems.

4. People CAN change, and if they do, we should not judge them for the worse thing they ever did. If they have found the light, let them shine.