Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Value of Our Own Stories

What is the value of a story well told? That depends on who the reader is. Not all of us will write something that will win a literary prize or bestseller status.

However in recent years, people have realized the value of writing down family stories, as a way of letting the future generations know what it was like to come to this country or tell what it was like to live and work in the not so distant past.

There are younger people growing up who have no sense of just how much the world has changed in the time leading up to their birth. Just as many people born in the last 40 years struggle to imagine what it was like to grow up in a house without electricity or running water or even a neighborhood without a fast food burger franchise or video games.

Telling your own story can be a valuable experience to help you get perspective on your own life, and it can also open a window for illumination for those who follow. Even if the only people who read these stories are your own family members, they can serve a valuable purpose.

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