Testify!

Why are New Yorkers willing to pay—and stand in line!—for the most basic form of recreation? What is the appeal of hearing strangers talk about themselves? Why are people willing to divulge the intimate details of their lives to people they've never met? Or as Augustine asked in his Confessions: "Why let others overhear my testimony, as if they could treat my symptoms?"

The simple answer is because we are "storytelling animals," to use Green's term. "A hunger for stories is built into our DNA." Or as Allison put it: "Oral storytelling is so hard wired into the way we make sense of it all and how we find the meaning in our lives."

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'Have I Ever Told You About...?'

My adventure into personal storytelling began with a question from my eldest son: "Mom, did you ever do anything wrong when you were a kid?" It had been a rough morning when eight-year-old Joshua popped that question. Though simple, it caught me off guard.

"Of course," I stammered. "Haven't you heard the stories?"

Joshua looked at me with surprise and shook his head.

I dove into my memory bank, picked a good one, and shared it with him on the spot. In no time at all, Josh was off running through the house. "Do you guys know Mommy cut off all her hair when she was three years old?"

While he whooped it up with his siblings, I sat quietly, one question haunting me: Do my children really know me?

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