Stories are an integral part of human life. One of the best features of story telling is that it is amusing and it can shorten time and brighten up leisure. Story telling is “a play of memory and forgetting” (Levy and Murphy 9) with the one who tells stories being able to recollect the events of the old times completely forgetting the present at this. It is remarkable how people of old age tell the stories about their youth and childhood but are sometimes unable to recollect their own name. Telling stories is important because they direct people’s imagination, cultivate their taste, and shape their thoughts (Keyes 4). One of the stories which my grandmother has told me as I was a child has completely changed my life and personality and shaped what I am now.
It seems that grandparents are able to influence children’s future life namely through their stories. I, for one, have always listened to my Grandma attentively because I was simply amazed by her wisdom. When I stayed with her during the weekends or holidays, she always used to tell me stories before wishing me good night. Now I have a whole collection of them which, I am sure, I will pass to my children and then grandchildren. One of her stories has made a considerable impact on me changing my attitude towards love, relations, and romance. It was my Grandma’s response to the question regarding how she and Grandpa have met.
My Grandma and Grandpa started dating when both of them were 18. Once they had to part for some time because she was sent to her relatives for a month, while he found a seasonal job in another town. They agreed to meet in a month at the train station from which they were to take the same train home (this is how people used to make dates when there were no cell phones!). However, it happened that Grandma missed her train for some reason. She stood crying from disappointment; she thought that Grandpa was in time for the train and left on it being convinced that she was already on it. In a minute, she felt somebody standing behind her. That was Grandpa who, as it turned out, failed to buy a ticket to the train and was also left at the train station. They bought tickets, came home together, and never parted since then.
Back then I did not understand the value of this story for I was only 9. However, in several years I recollected it when I got disappointed with love and relations. I understood that only the one who is searching for love and wants to find it indeed will necessarily succeed in this. I thought of the lucky coincidence which the destiny prepared for my grandparents and got convinced that having another try in relations is worth it, at least for such moments when you are unbelievably happy simply because you accidentally met your beloved when you could not even hope for this.
Thus, Grandma’s story has inspired me and turned me into a romantic person who now believes that true love does exist, despite all the objections on the part of cynics and those who became disappointed with relations. This is what the power of story-telling consists in: until stories are passed through the generations people will never forget about eternal values, such as love, friendship, and family.
Works Cited
Keyes, Angela M. Stories and Story-Telling. Charleston, SC: BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008.
Levy, Bronwen A. and Murphy, F. Story/telling. St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 2001.