A Tribute To Rachel Corrie And A Beginning Story
Posted to Storytell on March 17, 2007:
What is one life in the face of all the ongoing horror in our world? I thought I'd send the story of Rachel Corrie, a modern day peace activist, who died March 16, 2003. http://www.gratefulness.org/giftpeople/corrie.htm Be prepared the story is sad and there are pictures at the end if you choose to view them.
As a child, I frequently asked, "Why did so many terrible things have to happen in our world?" After years of asking that question I now know terrible things happen in our world because ignorance is insidious and rampant even in well meaning people. There is no manual available for living your life perfectly. We have to make it Up as we go along.
I thought will telling Rachel's story make any difference whatsoever? Probably not. I decided to send the story to our list, because I thought maybe we could work on a world story together. I have an idea that if we storytellers tell stories that focus on what the world of the future looks like now, then stories about peace activists, aids babies, and war will not be amongst them.
So what does the world look like without a war, aids, cancers of the body and mind, poverty, etc. Can such a story be told? Are we willing to tell such a story? I am.
Here is the beginning:
There was a group of storytellers who decided to do what was once thought to be impossible. They decided to change hearts and minds through the simple telling of a story. Now they knew it would have to be an extraordinary tale. This tale went deeper than language, channeling beyond what people believed directly to the heart of Truth. No one remembers how the story began, and many thought it was a myth. Some said it was a great secret kept hidden from the majority. Others said it was handed down from the ancient arts reserved for all time until now. It is no longer important how the tale began. What is important is that it was told in every language and when people heard the tale they understood what it was they did not know before. Like connecting pieces to a puzzle, all the hidden parts began to surface and the story seem to tell itself even as the drummers waiting for their cue began beating their drums whenever the story was told.
The drumming reminded people of their heart beating and the beating of their heart stilled them to listen to the story. All hearts were beating together and the story began. Every man, woman, boy and girl listened and what they heard was ...Anyone else?