Understanding through stories

An honor to speak alongside the Ambassador of Pakistan Asad Majeed Khan at an event promoting Peace and Understanding through Dialogue, at the Ambassador’s residence. I talked about the power of storytelling to promote understanding - and how I discovered this with an email I received after my first story, “Pakistan on the Potomac”, was published.

“I was struck with how similar you and your faith and values are to my family. I am a Jewish woman who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio but my grandparents and their families were from all over Europe. They too came to America when their respective countries had civil and political strife. Your struggles are identical to ours in terms of our wanting to pass on traditions, worrying about perceptions from the public and the trials and tribulations of raising our children and grandchildren and passing on our core values, traditions and faith. I realize that people from all over the world have more similarities than differences and your writing brings that to light.”

This email, and dozens like it, that I received after I published my personal story about a dozen years ago convinced me about the power of personal stories. How important it is for us to share out stories. Our stories may be ordinary – but they are profound in communicating who we are and what we value. Our stories are unique to each of us, yet they’re universal in the emotions and feelings they stir.

Stories help us cultivate a relationship, they help us develop trust with one another, build a sense of familiarity.

Stories humanize.

This is how I started writing personal stories – sometimes my own, often the stories of others – but all with the intention of helping to broaden the conversation so people could see us beyond generalizations, beyond stereotypes and simply get to know us as people, as families, as neighbors, as friends.

We are living at a moment when sharing our stories, opening our hearts, and connecting with each other is more important than ever.