Since the beginning of human history, stories have been used to help us remember the past and to learn valuable lessons.
Teaching abstract concepts like self-worth and personal responsibility are difficult.
Using a story allows the hearer to learn via context and the outcome of a story, be that a positive or negative lesson.
A Man At The End Of His Ropes: It’s A Wonderful Life
This movie and book are two of my favorite (non-Star Wars) examples of using “story” to explain the importance of an individual.
I love “It’s A Wonderful Life” and have for decades. The movie tells the story of George Bailey’s life and dreams.
George grew up in a tiny town with dreams of traveling the world and doing “important” things in life. The death of his father and the need for George to take his father’s place at the top of the Bailey Savings and Loan Company in order to keep it from the grubby hands of Mr. Potter.
The pivot point in the movie is when his Uncle Billy loses a deposit of $8,000. The savings and loan business is suddenly in dire financial straits and legal turmoil.
George tries his best to find money or a way to raise the money. Eventually the dark thought of killing himself so that his family would get the proceeds from his insurance policy with a death benefit of $15,000.
Before George can jump off the bridge and kill himself, Clarence jumps into the water. It turns out that Clarence is George’s guardian angel, tasked with saving George’s life.
George declares that he wishes he had never been born.
Clarence grants the wish, and George returns to the small town to find it in horrible shape since Mr. Potter has taken it over.
He finds that his wife never married, meaning his children were never born. He discovers that his younger brother Harry died by falling through the ice since George wasn’t there to save him. That means that his brother wasn’t alive during World War II to save the transport full of men.
The list of things wrong continues to grow.
Eventually, George realizes that he indeed has a wonderful life.
A Man At The End Of His Ropes: The Traveler’s Gift
Similar to George, David Ponder, the protagonist of The Traveler’s Gift has run into financial trouble.
He, like George, has a wife and a child and is scrambling to make ends meet.
The description of the book reads:
“Forty-six-year-old David Ponder feels like a total failure. Once a high-flying executive in a Fortune 500 company, he now works a part-time, minimum wage job and struggles to support his family. Suddenly an even greater crisis hits: his daughter becomes ill, and he can’t even afford to get her the medical help she needs. When David’s car skids on an icy road, he wonders if he even cares to survive the crash.”
Just like George, David is given a gift when he needed it most.
Instead of seeing what the world would be like if he had never been born, David is transported through time and space to visit 6 historical people and one celestial one.
Andy Andrews draws upon his vast storytelling talents and study of historical figures to allow us to believe that David is talking with these historical people.
As David meets each person, he meets them during historically accurate events but adds the fictional interaction between David and the person.
During his travels, David Ponder will meet and interact with U.S. President Harry S. Trueman, King Solomon, Union Army Col. Joshua Chamberlain, Christopher Columbus, Anne Frank, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and the Archangel Gabriel.
David will be given a decision that he is to memorize and apply.
We will look at each decision and see how we can apply it to our lives today and make our future the best it can be.
