The Story I Was Made To Tell
This is the story that I am made to tell. I have written pages and pages of other tales, dancing legends and laughing mysteries, choking secrets that fell away from me the minute they dripped on to the page. But I have always, it seems, been working around this one core subject, the one that eludes me and presses in on me at the same time. You see, I think that in the end, we all have one true tale to tell, to tell well, to tell with all the truth and simplicity, honor and respect that it deserves. And that story will live inside of us forever, praying to be let out. But it isn’t easy to unravel the chapters of your one story. For me, it is still quite impossible, but it is time that I try. Nothing I will ever write can approach truth until this story is told. And perhaps it is my job to try.
The story — it is my mother’s. And therefore, mine. It is built of nothing less than miracles and tragedy. It is nothing more than the story of one person. It is the only thing that makes me cry, in the deepest pocket of myself, because it is an untold, unfinished story of the highest importance. The story actually sings in me every time I breathe in, breathe out, every time my eyes lift to see the air and its tingly life, every time my hip aches or my hands sing, or my cheeks puff up in sickness or cold. But no matter its majestic significance, its indelible mark on my life, I still have never been able to tell it. That is the hole I am trying to fill.
1994, spring, a school day. My father, for some reason, drove me back from school one day. This was very unusual, since my father spent more than half his time in England during those years, and a great deal of time in other countries, as well, all as part of his job. He was rarely around, and when he was, he certainly wasn’t picking me up from school or anything else. Either way, he drove me home on this particular day, and as we approached the driveway, almost at our house, he told me an interesting piece of news.
In this memoir, James gives the reader a view into his and his mother's past, and how truly similar they were. Throughout his life, he showed the reader that there were monumental events that impacted his life forever, even if he
One day Gabi went into the garage and her father was lying unconscious on the ground with a pipe in his hand. He had died. She called the police and everything but it was no use, his death was caused by a meth overdose. Nevertheless Gabi faced her father’s death with grace and courage. His death had inspired her to read poetry in front of people, something she never could do before. The poem was about him and how nobody knew what it was like to have a dad who was a meth addict, watching him deteriorate day after day. Gabi kept saying over and over “ But you don’t know my dad.” Yet she fought through the tough times and became even stronger because of the trials she faced.
When this tale is looked at from a deeper perspective, it is learned that the mothers wish is to be loved and not have to worry about her child that has come in the way of her and her
The story that had the highest impact on me, is the story of Jeannette Ayinkamiye. She is one strong woman. And my idol. Reading the story of her mother made me think of mine. The woman who made me the person I am today, I just cannot imagine my life without her. Reading about Jeannette’s struggle brought tears to my eyes. Just like Jeannette my mother is my rock. To read about how strong she had to be to witness her mother suffering for three days at the age of seventeen while she
A good story is one that isn't demanding, that proceeds from A to B, and above all doesn't remind us of the bad times, the cardboard patches we used to wear in our shoes, the failed farms, the way people you love just up and die. It tells us instead that hard work and perseverance can overcome all obstacles; it tells lie after lie, and the happy ending is the happiest lie of all. (85)
Derricotte’s conclusive paragraph begins with, “My mother helps me. She sends me signs: her African violet bloomed for the first time on my windowsill three years after her death, on the first day of her death month…I love my mother now in ways I could not have loved her when she was alive, fierce, terrifying, unpredictable, mad, shame-inducing, self-involved, relentless, and determined by any means necessary” (53). The timing of her love for her mother became insignificant. It wasn’t about when she finally reached the point of loving her mother but the mere fact that she loved her. The utilization of descriptive writing and the emotional implementation in “Beginning Dialogues” are a couple of ways Derricotte enraptures her readers in this short story. Regardless of a painful past or a traumatic childhood she allows herself to see that love truly conquers
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen.” -pg. 85
“The story employs a dramatic point of view that emphasizes the fragility of human relationships. It shows understanding and agreemen...
We simultaneously believe, however, that society is disinterested in an individual’s story. One outcome of this dilemma is that public knowledge can only be built from “something real, some firm ground for action that would lead…onto the plane of history…” (507). In other words, the stories that are remembered are concrete. Individual’s stories are filled with uncertainty and emotions that continuously evolve. Society is too careless to comprehend this complexity. This leads to the other outcome, the narrator suggested, being our inability to understand one another. Our distinct experiences are critical elements in shaping our way of being; yet, they are unknown and figuratively we are
Stories are our essence of life. They grow and change with us. They allow us to reconstruct the pas, and put our slant on things. They don’t’ have make sense, and they don’t all have to be fact. That’s what kind of story this is.
The character is emphasising the moral and educational value of stories in human development and understanding by saying that there is always something to learn from stories, even when they are retold repeatedly.
Leadership has been defined in different ways, a definitaion of leadership that would be most commonly accepted would be “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization…”(House et al., 1999, p. 184 as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 19). After a comprehensive review of different leadership literature, Stogdill (1974, p. 259, as cited in Yukl, 2013, p. 18) concluded that “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept." Leadership can be viewed from two different angles one is shared influence process and other as a specialized role. Researcher who view leadership as a specialized role consider attributes as a factor in selecting a designated leader. On the contrast, theorist who emphasises on influence process considers “Leadership” as a social process or a pattern of relationship.
Obesity is a serious condition that has generated a discussion on whether or not to be classified as a disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is the body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, which is calculated based on the person’s height and weight. For years, our society has been facing the obesity challenge, which can be extremely costly once it leads to several diseases. Thus, because of the constant increase of percentage of people with obesity, the American Medical Association (AMA) proposed in June 18, 2013 to classify obesity as a disease. Their argument was that obesity increases the risks of countless health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension etc. Moreover, it increases morbidity and mortality. By considering obesity as a disease, their aim was to maximize researches and funding, which will focus on obesity from different medical and health approach levels. Their idea of classifying obesity as a disease was in accordance with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s declaration of 1995. The institute declared, “ Obesity is a complex multifactorial chronic disease developing from multiple interactive influences of numerous factors.” In 2012, the CDC data showed 34.9% of adults obese and 17% of obese children. These numbers are very alarming especially since the struggle to deter certain factors contributing into this condition is still a challenge. Among the struggles, there are the people’s rights versus health regulations to keep them as healthy as possible like the former mayor Bloomberg regulation on soft drinks size cut. During CNN’s show GPS of Sunday 2, 2014, the host Zacharia...