LETTER TO THE EDITOR / NARRATIVE 4 – EVERYONE HAS A STORY

By Roger C. Kostmayer

The 2022 Key West Literary Seminar was a success and there are too many who deserve kudos to name.  One unusual session was about Narrative 4 (N4), an unusual nonprofit  that started in one Colorado public school and rapidly grew to a global organization promoting what’s called “story exchange”.  N4 consists of artists, writers, educators and lots of young people. Their exercise begins with “My name is. . .” and ends with significant change in the participants’ empathy.

Essentially, N4 is a personal story exchange and role play that expands understanding and empathy among diverse, and often opposite, participants.  Diverse means different racially, economically, religiously, politically, in gender, sexual orientation, geographically and/or personality.  

Each individual tells their partner their own personal (and often painful) story, one that in some ways defines them. Their partner, participant 2, then tells their own story back.  Next, each one must tell the OTHER’s story from the inside, using the other’s name and identity as the story teller. Thus, each participant tells two stories, their own and their partners, which may be why this 2-plus-2 exercise is called Narrative 4.

What happens when both young and old human beings do this, is they realize that they matter, that their stories matter, that their lives matter – and so do the stories of others who are very different.

The ultimate goal, I believe, is for this simple,  honest sharing of stories to improve empathy and humanity in every town and community, and it already seems to be working around the globe – on 4 continents, in 16 countries, within 18 of our United States, and among thousands of diverse participants.

Any honest effort to increase listening, empathy and understanding of those we think are different, sounds promising to me.

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