What is your story?

One of the things I love to do is to talk with people, and hear their story. Everyone has a story to tell. Sometimes it is the general narration of someone you have just met. Sometimes it is a deeply personal account from a close friend. Triumph, tragedy, interesting anecdote, mutual experience, heart-warming, or tear jerking, the story can feature some or all of these things. By sharing the stories of our lives with each other, we get to know one another more, and we can find common ground as we realise interests and experiences have been shared, we can have the assurance that others have been on a similar journey, and we can share tips and advice one with another. This can be particularly powerful when speaking of the deeper things in life - matters of faith, of love, of life and death.

This weekend, I went to a meeting where someone told his story. I shall not name him; his identity is not relevant here. But at that meeting, I was again reminded of the truths of the preceding paragraph. I came to the meeting expecting to hear from a man of whom I had heard something, but knew little. I left thinking about the experiences of someone who I knew more, but, more importantly, who I felt I understood, who was indeed a sibling in my human existence. I was flushed with the beauty of such commonality, and took something away to meditate on, to act on, and to shape future thinking.

The man who spoke was not someone with whom I can agree one hundred per cent. Differences in outlook were highlighted. But, as I saw his human side, these became, somehow less important. And here, I think is the true benefit of all this. For meeting people and talking with them is not just about nice feelings and the Banbury Man waffling on again telling us to be nice to each other. It strikes me that xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and other form of discrimination become much more difficult to practise when one knows the object of one’s prejudice. It is all very well to read the worse excesses of the press and believe immigrants to be a thoroughly bad lot. It is harder to believe this when one meets an immigrant and hears their story.

So, be it for the sake of friendship, personal interest, warm feeling, or even world peace, take the time out to hear someone’s especially if you know it is a person with whom you do not always agree. You might even learn something about yourself!