Martin_10_I

Annette's big argument is lost on me. She is trying to convince us that storytelling is the greatest, most powerful tool you can ever have. I just don't really buy it. At least not the way she frames it.

Sure, I guess I sometimes tell stories, in a way, in order to try and influence people. But it's so much less conscious than what she is teaching. It's just the way we are taught to communicate with each other. Of course we all tell stories. Otherwise what would we talk about?

Maybe it's because there wasn't a lot of storytelling in my family. My family wasn't like that one woman's family where she learned about every ancestor back through slavery times. I have no idea what my ancestors were like. When stories were told, I probably just turned my head and "ugh"ed with boredom.

She uses Hitler as the obvious example of the power of storytelling, but I think that Hitler had some qualities that cannot be taught in a book. He just happened to be a very influential person. Stories worked for him in a way that they probably couldn't work for any of us.

I think that Annette is in love with storytelling and that's fine. She should be. That's what she does. The problem is that her reality of storytelling does not fit in with any reality that I've ever experienced.