Have you ever been mesmerized by someone telling a story? I used to work at WUAL, an NPR station in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. For one of our segments, our producer would record Kathryn Tucker Windham telling stories. I loved hearing about her childhood in Thomasville, Alabama. I had read her book, 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey, but these stories she told Sam were different—simple stories about her life growing up. Of course, she told them wonderfully, with her Southern drawl and heavily inflected voice.
Stories have a way of drawing us into a scene—into someone’s life. You experience things that you would never encounter. Through their narratives, you learn about that person’s life, and often about the universal human existence. That is when I began to realize storytelling isn’t just entertainment—it has a purpose.
Acting is what I do, but storytelling is why. Stories build empathy. They make us care about people we’ve never met.
— Jessica Chastain (b. 1977) American actress and producer
Caring About People
I grew up with the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Early on I heard the aphorism: “Never judge a person unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.” I tried to build my life around those ideals. When I grew up, I found that many people did not “get the memo” on this.
It is easy to ignore, criticize, or demonize a person or group about whom we know nothing. Oh yes, we may think we know them simply by what we see on the news or how other people describe them. This is not a fair representation at all. If a story is used to grab headlines or bring divisiveness, then perhaps we need to examine the bias of the storyteller.
Stories constitute the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal.
— Dr. Howard Gardner (b. 1943) American developmental psychologist and professor at Harvard University
Why Empathy Is Important
The willingness to listen to other people’s stories and experiences—and believe they are valid—is the foundation of empathy. I believe putting ourselves in another person’s situation makes us more understanding and able to act with love and compassion. Empathy makes us willing to call out injustices where we see them and to help others during disasters or wars.
The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.
— Brandon Sanderson (b. 1975) American fantasy and science fiction writer
Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.
— Robert McKee (b. 1941) American author, lecturer, and professor
Storytelling is everywhere—in books, on television, in movies, and in songs. This blog is my attempt at storytelling—to connect with whoever reads it.
We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.
— Jimmy Neil Smith (1947-2025) American Journalism Teacher and Director of the International Storytelling Center
That is why I write these entries: to remind myself—and hopefully you—that storytelling is how we keep empathy alive.
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