Telling Stories

I am a little too old to remember if either of my parents read stories to my sister and I at bedtime. I know my wife and I read to our children at bedtime when they were young. It is a great idea and custom to read bedtime stories. The custom is worldwide. However! Another custom comes from this, and this custom is so much more important: storytelling. We all have it; some of us are better than others.

In times past, the storytellers were those that kept the histories of the tribes, passing the knowledge from generation to generation. This was how the Bible was first written for us to read today. The bound book that we call the Bible is actually a collection of books that were written ages ago; they were stories told over and over again in the Twelve Tribes of the Israelites. Go look for some of the books left out of our official Bible; they are fascinating reading.

But getting back to telling stories, think back to your childhood and sharing some of your childhood with your children. Tell them the stories of your life! Tell them about growing up in East Orange, New Jersey, and playing baseball on 19th Street with a 36-inch piece of wooden dowel and a red rubber ball, with cars as first and third bases, and manhole covers as second and home plate. And no overhand pitching allowed. One cardinal rule: you could always call someone’s father a dirty name, but if you foul-mouthed his mother or sister, you were out of the game. We did have our honor rules.

So tell your stories; they can be fun sharing histories.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. D.Litt.
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