from Chapter 3 of Onward
Chapter 3 of Onward teaches us how to tell empowering stories. Often the challenge is to work against the dominant narratives we have been hearing for so long. As Elena shares it is our responsibility to recognize when we tell dehumanizing narratives (of women, poor people, rural people, people with dark skin, people with disabilities, and people who aren’t gender conforming or heterosexual) and when we hear them being told – and to unravel them.
One way that these destructive dominant narratives have operated is by silencing the stories of others. Too many people have been prevented from disseminating their stories to large audiences; access to the tools of speaking, writing, and reading has been restricted. Whenever people are silenced, and when the stories of some groups can’t be told, collective social wealth, well-being, and resilience are undermined.
The healing of our world may lie in how we make space for stories to be told, how we listen to stories, and that we tell our stories. As Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said in her 2009 TED Talk, The danger of a single story, “Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower and humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that dignity.”
Increase our collective resilience…tell stories and listen to stories…change the world we live in.