"The Danger of a Single Story" TEDTalk.
This amazing talk really moved me and caused me to open my eyes and reflect on the ways that I think, the stories that I seem to share or connect with and then the mostly false stereotypes that all of society is guilty of making. Lately I have been thinking a lot about the type of person I want to be including the way I think about interactions with other people and how I choose to let them affect me. A few years ago I was very simple minded and didn't necessarily care too much about what was going on outside of my own personal life bubble. But after having some amazing, eye-opening experiences in the past couple of years, I feel that "life" is about making connections with people that may be outside of that bubble. It's about opening your eyes to different views and different ways of life. It's about learning and maybe even experiencing others' stories so that false judgments, stereotypes and biases can be eliminated. I used to think that my life was all about me. However I have come to a different mindset that my life is about connecting with others. I don't even have a life if no one else is in it. I don't have a well-rounded, full life if I don't make connections and have some pretty crazy experiences to help shape me.
Stories help give people these experiences. I recently went on a European vacation, visiting Spain, Austria and Germany. I had great experiences there, learning about the wonderful, yet very sad and depressing events (such as the holocaust) that have shaped those countries. I would have never known about those events if it wasn't for the journal entries and stories that people told who experienced it. And it has greatly changed my views of what matters in life.
