Storytellers at MU stress the common bond

Five speakers emphasized the human connection made through stories.

By Will Guldin

Published Feb. 20, 2009

The power of a personal story was on display Thursday night in Waters Auditorium where five guest speakers gathered to share their own experiences and describe how telling stories has helped them cope with tragedy.

Professional storyteller Laura Simms said for her, stories are some of the most powerful ways for people to connect.

"What is involved in my work, going from this kind of fascination and study of culture and storytelling, ritual, psychology, anthropology, opened up into realizing this has always been the most potent way to bring people together and reconcile differences," Simms said. "Because people become human beings to each other when they hear each other's stories in the most profound and moving way."

Simms' adopted son, former Sierra Leone child soldier Ishmael Beah, agreed stories were a powerful way for him to cope.

He said storytelling is his duty. He said it helps him gain a better understanding of himself and at the same time he is helping others understand what he went through.

Beah said though for his stories to make a difference people had to be open to their message.

"You have to be willing to take the story as it is told." Beah said. "To take the story as it is told to you. That's where the transformation occurs. If you come to hear the story with preconceptions, pre-ideas of what the story is going to be. As soon as somebody says one thing you say 'oh I think the story should go this way' you will be disappointed and there will be no transformation."

Using a proverb from Sierra Leone as a metaphor, Beah said his purpose in telling stories is to inspire peace.

"The point of it is once you raised the gun, once the violence starts, there has to be a consequence," Beah said. "There is no easy way out."

Several Columbia activist groups were also present at the discussion. The Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition was one of the organizations that attended the meeting. The coalition's purpose is to raise awareness about trafficking problems.

"Our focus has been on trafficking as it pertains to mid-Missouri," coalition co-chairwoman Deb Hume said. "But I think raising awareness about human trafficking in all its forms, including child soldiers is part of our mission."

Hume said Beah's story is hopeful.

"Its very hopeful that someone can live through what he did and come out of it with the wisdom and humanity that he shows," Hume said. "It's really extraordinary."