The Truth About Stories

In class we read The Truth About Stories by Thomas King. This book was very striking and once I started reading, I couldn't set it down. Though he said a great many profound things, there was one idea in particular that stuck with me the most. It was the idea that a story can change how you live your life. He writes that you shouldn't say I would have lived my life differently if only I had heard this story, because "You've heard it now." There was something about this comment that really struck home for me. I love to write. I write poetry, short stories, and novels in any spare time that I can find. I like to labor under the fantasy that my words will change how someone thinks or lives. That I will inspire someone with my words and bring something amazing into their lives. When I was little, I always said that if just one person is struck my book, then I'll be happy, that's all I want. I think that's why the idea of "You've heard it now" stood out so much. It's the idea that any story can alter the way we see the world. It can change our perception of a simple daily task or alter the whole course of our futures. This semester has been a whirlwind of life changing events, the stories being a major part of it. Native American Literature's and Cultures has opened my eyes to a whole new way of viewing the world. It's why I took the class, but I still didn't expect the eye-opening to be so amazing.

The Truth About Stories opened my eyes even more to the truth of the world, life, and the words I cling to. In the opening pages, King makes the statement "I tell the stories not to play on your sympathies but to suggest how stories can control our lives, for there is a part of me that has never been able to move past these stories, a part of me that will be chained to these stories as long as I live" (King 9). This is the idea that I've been searching for all my life. Plain and simple. It's changed my life. Whenever I sit down (or stand up) to write, I find myself flipping through the pages of my past looking for that one moment that will help people to understand where my character is coming from. However, I've never told my stories, personally. There are facets of my life in each of my characters. There are moments that make them change that also changed me. But my story, the whole dirty truth of it, stays buried deep inside of me, like an album tucked far under the bed, dusty and forgotten until the single moment that you need it. Sure I flip through the major moments of my life almost every day, but no one else does. I never knew why I kept my stories so secure, so close to the chest, as it were. But this statement makes it very clear. I never wanted sympathy. My stories, the major moments of my life, are what made me the person that I am and I like me, so why should anyone feel sorry for me. I couldn't stand it when people get that teary eyed look when you tell them something traumatic or big. I didn't feel that way, why should they. Sure, my stories do make me sad sometimes, there's a lot of pain there, but there's still a lot of good there too, and it's the good that I'm holding on to everyday. I don't think of a lost friend, and only see the funeral. I see all the happy times, all the laughing and the goofiness. I don't think of cancer, and see only IVs and my bald head. I see the day my hair started to grow back, and the minute I stepped back into a classroom. Sure there's pain, sure there's tears, but there's also strength and determination and life. Life is the key. Living is the key. My stories are about living, not just surviving (an important difference). And I wouldn't let my stories go for anything. They're mine and they're me. I'll keep them, but I won't be afraid to pass them on anymore either. Thomas King opened a door.

The Truth About Stories is one of the most amazing books I've read this semester (and that's a tough call--there were a lot of amazing ones in there). I will definitely be reading it--again and again. To see what else my world might be missing. I've heard it now, and now I'm going to live it.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.