We Need Our Storyhood
Seeing The Other as human is the first step to making things better
My father was born almost on the other side of the world. In a place that was at the time a colony of The Netherlands. He lived through WWII under Japanese occupation and saw the archipelago of his birth lose a battle for independence in the aftermath of the war. So he fled. To The Netherlands, where he built a new life and started a family.
From my mother’s side, my grandfather’s grandfather came to The Netherlands from France. He was a miller, which was a family trade in the east of France.
These are just fragments of ‘my story’. A story that combines elements from around the world. A story of migration, of displacement.
Across the street, our neighbour is full of stories. Stories of here. Of this particular place. He was born here. Like his father. And grandfather. His family very much rooted in a small geographical area. His story the complete opposite of my own. Still, we are good neighbours. Our differences a source of neverending chats and conversations in the street. A basis to build a connection on. Stories. Through stories, you can start seeing The Other as human. That is important. It’s the first step to feeling a connection. From there on, you can overcome fear of The Other. It’s this fear that is currently poisoning so many of our Western societies. Because a dehumanised Other is easy to blame for anything that’s wrong in the world. But that blaming will only lead to misery, and never to a real solution. So, share your story. Listen to the story of The Other, and let your differences be a source of love.
The photo above is from the Indies Monument in The Hague, The Netherlands. It had a special meaning to my dad. The flowers in front are from funerals. There’s a ritual in The Hague, where people put funeral flowers in front of the monument. Always a field of fresh flowers. One of the arrangements in the picture was from my dad’s funeral.
Storyhood Inspotainment
The fabulous writer Elif Shafak is a big inspiration. She not only writes wonderful books (if you haven’t read one of her books, do yourself a favor and start now), she is also an activist promoting diversity and rehumanising Others by building storyhood. This TED Talk is just one example.
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