Receiving a Valued Story

When Thelma Slater was a girl she lived in a poverty stricken corner of Massillon, Ohio.  She was the daughter of immigrants and one of her least favorite chores included taking the dinner scraps out to the crik that ran behind the house and when she scraped them into the water, seeing giant rats scurrying for them.

I won't tell her story for you here, but I will tell you that every hour that I spent with her was one of the best hours.  She told me story after story of her own persistence through college and her commitment to helping students who lived in the same parts of town where she had grown up.

She talked in clear terms about what it was like to try to build infrastructure that would include families and parents in the educational systems that often excluded them.  She was determined, persistent and vital in her work of offering opportunity to all who showed any interest and she was one of the most compelling story tellers I've known.

But I've been so lucky to live a life surrounded by story tellers and good stories.

One of the best things I've learned is how to receive the gift of a story.  Listening can seem passive sometimes?  But that just means that you're hearing and not listening.

True listening is giving your heart to trying to understand the story and the storyteller.  And it is one of the most valuable ways to spend your life.

#50thingsofvalue