They are who we are

They make us

Our stories

Are what capture us

What capture our history

Our values

Our journey

To wisdom

They are what capture

Our lives

But what happens with our stories

When we are no longer able to share them …

Who will know them

Who will share them

Who will care for them

And I wonder

Will they even matter any more

But our stories matter

In our time

Because we matter

I have often thought that the world impacts us

It moulds us

I have often thought that we as individuals have such little power

To impact the world

That the impact of the world on the individual is

Far greater

Than the impact the individual make

On the world

But is that so

Is that right

And really

Does it matter

Because does it change anything

Does it diminish or even increase the value

Of our stories

The stories

Of who we are

Because

In the time and space that we exist

Are we not important

Regardless of the impact that we have

Or the impact that we think we have or

The impact that others think we have

Maybe we have impact that we are not even aware of

Maybe we don’t

But our value doesn’t depend on impact

Our stories matter to who we are

Because they are ours

They are us

And those who are prepared to listen

When we are prepared to share

Take with them a little piece of us

Connecting them

To us

And

Making us

And part of their stories

They and we

Are added to

Informed

Formed

By the stories of us

That they receive

And so

Through our stories

We live on

Maybe a word

A syllable

A sentence

A chapter

An entire encyclopedia

It lives

We live

In the pool of life

That is eternal

A story

Ever changing

With no definite beginning

And an unseen

and unseeable

Ending