The Power of the Story

StoryCorps, a national oral history project, is visiting Philadelphia and reminding people of the power of the narrative. The brainchild of David Isay, a renowned radio documentarian, the mission of StoryCorps is to record the stories of "ordinary" people and archive them at the American Folk Life Center in Washington, DC.

If you listen to NPR, you may have heard some of these stories. They are spellbinding, both in their simplicity and in their depth. Ordinary people do extraordinary things every day and when they talk about them their accomplishments touch others in ways that are unexpected and powerful because they resonate deep in our souls.

If nothing else, the story of Barbaro is an incredibly powerful tale of people who try to do the right thing for the right reason and the obstacles that stand in their way, not the least of which are, at times, their own self-doubts. It is, at its heart, the story of trying to save a life, not because it is any more valuable than any other life, but simply because it is a life and that is what you do.

It needs to be told, preserved and recorded because it is what most of us try to do every day in different ways. I just hope I get the chance....