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Personal Narrative: The Call Of Stories

Decent Essays

I have a horizontal file cabinet in my office that can tell you a good story or two. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t stop to have a seat on this file cabinet and share a story or two with me. I enjoy every minute of it. I love hearing other people’s stories and how they connect us, but most importantly as Robert Coles states in his book, The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination, (1989) that we learn lasting moral lessons through stories. Storytelling, in the form of both personal narratives and the established literary tradition, gives us a fuller understanding of ourselves and the experiences we have with others. "The whole point of stories," he says, "is not 'solutions' or 'resolutions' but a broadening and even heightening of our struggles…" (p. 129). Stories remind us of what is important in life, counsel us, point us in new and/or different directions, engage us in self-reflection, and sometimes inspire us to lead a different life all together. …show more content…

In my current position in higher education marketing, it is the heart-felt, life-changing stories of current students and alumni that constantly have an impact not just on my professional life, but on my personal life, as well. As Coles (1989) states, “If our job was to help our patients understand what they had experienced by getting them to tell their stories, our job was also to realize that as active listeners we give shape to what we hear, make over their stories into something of our own” (p. 18-19). The beauty of a story, he says, is in its openness — "the way you or I can take it in, and use it for ourselves" (p.

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