This week in class we learned about what story telling means and how traditions and history can be passed down through them. It made me think how we know history today; we know it through lots of stories. Of course artifacts are discovered and we can fit the pieces together, but the bulk of the knowledge we know is through stories that were passed down generation to generation.
Then I connected this to my personal family and what I know about my loved ones. My dad was always a big storyteller as I was growing up. He would tell me about all the crazy things my uncles did as they were kids or how he acted in school. He told me about my Papa's and Grandma's relationship since I never got to see it for myself. I've noticed I have picked up on some of their traits. To me, storytelling is important because it helps me understand where I have come from. Otherwise I think I might feel a bit lost.
My dad also told me about how he met my mom, and their entire relationship before I was born. (I am the eldest child) He told me about all the crazy stuff they did and how they had been together since the 8th grade. Those stories gave me hope in my own love life because they had a love that strong since they were so young.
I think storytelling is helpful in a sense that people are able to find out where they come from, and build themselves upon that. Traditions are carried down through the stories told about them. Imagine if a family had a tradition where every New Year they would set off fireworks, the children of that family would know to set off fireworks every year because they grew up doing so but they would not understand the importance and significance of the tradition unless they heard the stories about how it begun.
My parents tell me stories from when they growing up and I think I was just like them when they were teenagers. I think storytelling is important as well because it gives us the opportunity to learn more about the people that we are close to.
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