Giving, Thanking, and Storytelling

      A Word from Miriam Scott, Director of Impact Education

Here's My Story:

I live in a small house with a very large olive tree that bears an abundance of fruit every two years. As I am not a skilled harvester of olives or any other fruit, I have never successfully collected the olives and brined them. Instead, I find myself sweeping up the green and black baubles by the hundreds and depositing them into the garden waste bin every few days. I grumble about the mess as I go about that chore. The olives, if not picked at the right time, become the homes of tiny worms that burrow into the fruit and grow there until they transform into fruit flies. It’s a nasty business, really, except for one thing: The worms attract a multitude of birds to the tree. They descend in droves onto the full branches to eat the precious delicacy buried deep in the flesh of the olives. And so when I look out my office window, I see the continual flurry of colorful activity: yellow-rumped warblers, red-breasted robins, and white-crowned sparrows. To them, the old olive tree isn’t a mess maker but rather a tasty buffet of rare treats filling their colorful bellies. And in those moments, as I watch them, I become grateful for that messy old tree, that giver of life.

And that, to me, seems fitting this time of year when we talk about giving and gratitude. According to every advertisement I see on TV right now, we are supposed to be uniting with lots of loved ones, eating lots of food, drinking lots of drinks, and giving lots and lots of presents to each other. Give from your heart, give from your pocketbook; all this is founded in a deep sense of tradition and perhaps obligation for some. 

But what if not all gifts can be bought in shops? What about gifts that come from a deeper place? One of my favorite gifts, for example, is that of storytelling. A very smart young woman I met a few weeks ago told me that “stories are data with soul.” They deliver all the information needed to understand an idea, but they do it with feeling. That sense of feeling is so powerful in stories that it compels us to make change within our communities and within ourselves. Stories are the constant in all of humanity’s existence that have propelled us forward while connecting us. They are the foundation upon which Creative Visions was established and remain the inherent element at the center of our work. As a member of the Impact Education team at Creative Visions, I have the pleasure of experiencing the power of stories as they are told by youth from all over the world, whether through our Creative Changemakers curriculum or through our mental health campaign. I see young faces light up and lives transformed as students share and listen to each others’ stories. It’s holiday magic all year long.

What’s Your Story?

So, think about this as you slot branches of the artificial tree into place, unwrap colorful trinkets from dilapidated cardboard boxes, pull turkey platters from the back recesses of the kitchen cupboards, or get ready to light candles to cast out the darkness: What’s your story? How will you share it? Will you write it down? Paint it? Film it? Dance it out? 

I am not going to tell you what you should be grateful for, but I do hope that every single person reading this blog is given the space and time this month to share their story, feel the warmth of connection, and give a small part of themselves to those they cherish.

Miriam Scott, Director of Impact Education

Learn more at: https://www.createconnectcare.org/