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December 09, 2004
stories
i probably wouldn't be far off in saying i could count the number of books (longer than 25 pages and without pictures) i've read for pleasure in my life between my fingers and toes. the fact is i haven't seen many stories that i could lose myself within or the discipline to put myself in that direction. i've usually complained that especially fiction stories are a waste of time-- if i'm going to read something it may as well be books of ideas or some "real" material...
but within the last few months of classes and conversations i'm realizing that stories are all we have. anything in life that has meaning gains that meaning because of its context. it's the development of settings, character and plot that brings lessons to us. live and learn, they say.
to understand then, cannot really happen apart from its story. in other words, we can't understand values or principles without their context: it is their context that makes them what they are. so listening to each other and the stories that people are part of takes on central importance.
i imagine i'll still be more into short stories with lots of pictures, but it seems that stories may require more and more of my attention in whatever form they take.
Posted by Derrick at December 9, 2004 12:05 PM