People, I Hardly Know You-Without Your Stories

Every Friday I shoot wide awake as the latest clip from StoryCorp, the original initiative of David Isay, airs. NPR runs a clip once a week of ordinary people interviewing loved ones in one of four sound proof booths in operation so far. Not only are the stories good and something you might never know about, but often I get all choked up because the full import of the story on both the teller and the listener is so powerful, it is palpable through the air waves.

Isay said when he started this project, he gave it two years. He thought in that space of time, stories would begin to repeat themselves. But this has not happened. He has been surprised at the infinite variety that continues to reveal itself.

Since I have been listening to these clips, the power of these stories got me thinking. I remembered a time when I asked my brother-in-law a simple question about his career and he enthusiastically filled me in. I had known him at that time for 30 years and that night he revealed a whole new dimension to me. It was a treasure.

We often think those close to us know our stories, but it isn't the case. Recently I was startled when my stepdaughter asked me why her father and I never had a child. I was stunned, because the fact that I never conceived a child was so painful to work through, it absolutely did not occur to me that she never knew how hard it was for me to accept the fact. When she asked me about this, she was amost 40 years old. How much are we missing by not telling each other our stories? By not asking the questions?

And this does not even touch upon the effect being listened to has on the story teller...