StoryCorps is an organization which is dedicated to recording people’s life stories and memories. Since October 2003 they are installing StoryBooths in public spaces where people can record their own stories in a silent place.
StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening. Follow our facilitators as they collect stories across the country.
I started listening to people’s stories on their web site and I must admit that some stories made me cry. Because the stories are real. And you can feel how the people are emotionally touched by telling their life stories. Of course there are not only sad and dramatic stories, but I think most of them are. The reason may be that in today’s society people are just not listening anymore. Everybody is talking and sharing and expressing. Which is good. But sometimes it’s important to calm down and to just listen… for example what men and women in their seventies tell you about the past and how life was some 50 years ago. It’s good for you to listen and maybe learn something, and it’s good for the story teller to reflect upon what happened.
It’s a great project!
Oh, I always get sucked into these on NPR, and usually end up crying…