As I watched the political battle of 2024 unfold, I thought about how each candidate is sharing a story. These stories resonate with one side or the other and provide a narrative, good, bad or ugly for people to share with family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. This resonated with me because I tell stories for a living at PWPvideo. Mostly we tell positive stories for nonprofit organizations in Philadelphia and beyond.
There is no political angle in these stories, just the desire of an organization to help someone in need, and then to spread that message. Oftentimes these stories share how people in our community have hit their lowest low and finally found a resource that can give them a hand up, bending the arc of their story towards triumph.
And when someone shares a story like that with me, and I get to turn it into a video to share more widely to inspire others, I know what a gift that truly is. A gift of trust. A gift of love to the organization that was there to lift them up. A gift of positivity that good things are happening in the city and the world around us.
There is nothing more leveling than empathy between a storyteller and the recipient.
What if we chose to share those, or our own, stories with others? What kind of a gift would that be this holiday season?
Six years ago, my coworker Dave Winston, an avid story slammer, suggested that we do just that. Create a space for those positive stories that aren’t being told. “We have amazing people around us in Philadelphia,” he said, “in the B Corp and sustainability spaces, and activists, and a whole cadre of “do gooders,” and we could get them all together just a couple of nights a year to have a drink and share the stories of the good that they are doing. By listening to each other and exchanging stories of hope, and struggle, and the plain hard work of doing good, we could gift each other some love, grace, and support.”
That was the beginning of MISSION Story Slam in 2018, and here we are a good 100 stories later coalescing as a community. And we have gained new insights into the power of sharing one’s story and how it connects us all.
We’ve heard stories of renewal and death, of abuse and survival, and of struggle and thriving. I’ve watched hundreds of audience members in rapt silence, uproarious laughter, and tears, but I’ve not heard one critical or unsupportive word the entire time.
I believe that is because when someone is telling a story, we are wired to listen and learn what comes next, especially when that story is true and maybe even a bit raw. When we see someone struggling to tell their story, we want them to succeed, and we want them to feel safe to share it openly. That’s the kind of community that positive storytelling can create.
When we see someone struggling to tell their story, we want them to succeed, and we want them to feel safe to share it openly.
MISSION Story Slam’s goal is to spread the stories of good deeds in Philadelphia, and we need those stories now more than ever. As we enter this holiday season, there are some gifts we cannot purchase for any price, and not everything we treasure comes with a gift receipt.
So, listen to the story from your weird uncle and just take it in as best you can, even if he makes you a bit crazy, because there is nothing more leveling than empathy between a storyteller and the recipient. Share a story with a relative, but see if you can make it one that might make them feel a bit better about the world versus one that makes them think better of you. Find a little extra truth and vulnerability as you share and as you listen.
As we’ve seen at MISSION Story Slam this can become a wakeup call to the power of your story and someone else’s. You don’t need extra room in your carryon to bring someone a tale, nor to take one home, you only need to make the time and space to accept the gifts.
We are lucky to have language and stories to connect us. They are a healing salve in what can often feel like a hopelessly divided nation. We don’t have to be red or blue when we are honest and sharing, though we probably all have some stories with what we might see as the other side.
Story arcs have a beginning that usually leads to a conflict, a middle searching for a resolution, and a denouement where, hopefully, we can all learn something, the tellers and the listeners. Sharing an uplifting story can truly be a gift to both when done with a modicum of care. I hope you give and receive many stories during this season, and the best part? You won’t even have to wrap them.
Michael Schweisheimer is the founder and executive producer at production company PWPvideo, telling the stories of mission-driven nonprofits. Outside of his day job, Michael also highlights the uplifting stories of Philadelphia’s do-gooders through the biannual MISSION Story Slam, its podcast, and the MISSION Story Salon.
The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.
