Stories Matter: They Impact Lives.
By Fiona Marielle Bucalig.
Stories, whether written in a book, from the spoken word or even told through actions, have brought significant impact and long-lasting effects that have affected society and its institutions. The impact of stories has the power to shape and control the way that individuals choose to believe and even affect the way communities and institutions act towards their people. These teachings, lessons, and morals that are conveyed to people through stories have allowed people and societies to develop new and creative ideas that have led to the advancement of different aspects such as art, politics, culinary advancements, etc.
When looking back on the rapid development of society and the institutions that have developed alongside, one aspect not usually thought of is the idea about how stories and the teachings that can give an individual being a key factor when thinking of what has allowed this rapid growth. The power of a story can come from how these are teachings and ideas that are taught to people during their youth or at any point in their life. It allows for these teachings to be ingrained into a person and allows for one to be influenced when it comes to decision making, creating new ideas, and bringing originality within their creations or works. These effects can be seen with the improvements people have gradually made to areas such as different areas of the arts, industrial development, even with regards to the advancement of mathematics, sciences, and literary works. These improvements to different societal areas can be attributed to the people that have created these improvements and through the lessons and stories that have enabled their growth.
While the impacts of stories have helped to positively influence the growth of society and its institutions, there have also been teachings that have come through stories that have served to have long standing negative impacts. Such as with the ideals held by people who believe in the superiority of certain races taken from the teachings and stories that were taken from individuals with similar beliefs.
The idea of the impact that can be attributed from the stories that have helped develop improvement through single entities like the people or larger entities like societal institutions and larger groups of people isn’t thought of much when considering the instrumental factors of society’s growth. But being able to understand the importance of the stories and lessons and their effects gives us an understanding and appreciation for what can influence a person’s way of thinking at any point in their life.
Works Cited
Adichie, Chimamanda, The Danger of a Single Story, The Danger of a Single Story, TED, July 2009, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story#t-1101088