Storytelling helps to protect our integrity, validate our existence, and create empathy.
By Jonathan Santos
In my eighth grade English class, everyone kept a journal—even our teacher Mrs. Griffin. Every day, she allotted 10 minutes for her students to write. She always told us, “write to express, not to impress.” There were no prompts. No boundaries. The only rule was to write for the entire 10 minutes without stopping. You stop, you fail. Endure the hand cramps and the writer’s block. Just keep moving your pencil.
At the end of each writing session, we would share what we had written but only if we wanted to. Some entries were funny. Some were ridden with hurt. But they were always raw, honest, and uninhibited. We never gave feedback to what others had written. We didn’t have to. We honored each other’s stories by simply listening. We expressed solidarity through silence.
We learned the art of storytelling is not just for playwrights, novelists, and screenwriters. All of our stories are important and worth sharing. In Mrs. Griffin's class, a mutual respect for each other’s stories translated to a collective respect for learning. We excelled because we supported one another.