The Storyteller’s Creed.

I’ve been having a rough go of it lately.

I don’t sleep well, I sleep through class, I miss too many, I’m sick of being a student, sick of school, sick of not being able to focus, sick of feeling so alone…I guess you can say I’m just a little sick.

So, looking for some solace, I thought of my dad. He always seems to make things better in my life. However, being in school, he’s not right there. Not readily accessible to me. So, I decided to try something else: his favorite author.

I have a copy of Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.” I think it’s my dad’s copy, but shhhh…don’t tell him.

My dad always talked about Fulghum as I started getting older and started developing a mature and rational mind. One of the things I remember from reading his works earlier in life is just…how full they made me feel. Full of life, full of emotion, full of thought and wonder and hope…

So I picked up the book. First thing I started with was the foreword, titled “To the reader from the author.” I like that. It seems so less menacing and condescending as forewords can sometimes be.

It isn’t a long chunk of text. But God, did it work. I didn’t even need to get into the meat of the text for the impact to be had. I want to quote for you here what made such a profound impact on me tonight.

“Finally, I should tell you that I have an official Storyteller’s License. A friend made it up and taped it to the wall over my desk. This license gives me permission to use my imagination in rearranging my experience to improve a story, so long as it serves some notion of Truth. It also contains a Storyteller’s Creed:

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge.

That myth is more potent than history.

That dreams are more powerful than facts.

That hope always triumphs over experience.

That laughter is the only cure for grief.

And I believe that love is stronger than death.

I have tried very hard to not write anything that would cause my license to be revoked. “

This was exactly what I needed. Even without knowing, my dad still made it better. Still was able to be my hero. And Fulghum also was able to be my hero.

My message in this post is to never doubt the power of precisely crafted words, and that thinking of your daddy can always make everything better.

With love, XOXO.