What Story Could you be Writing?

 

 

As writers we seek to spread our message through the telling of stories, but not just any stories–our stories. We ponder our lives; we dig to that raw spot within that moves us; we seek counsel; we review our past experiences; and we research facts—all this so that we may create scenes and characters and plots; in non-fiction we do all this to persuade, to explain, and to bring awareness.  The purpose, my friends, is to connect with our reader in a way that ignites them; to move them to emotion and empower them to take action. Think about the piece you are working on right now. Based on everything you poured into your message, what do you hope your reader feels when he/she reads the last word? What do you hope they feel compelled to do?

If we seek to touch others through our story, we carry much power of influence in how others may choose to be… how they might posture themselves in life. It is in how we live our lives and how we experience the effects, consequences, and impacts of our choices that help us write our story–a story that could ignite and influence others to live differently.

I have been greatly motivated by Ruma’s story (via Humanitarian International Services Group). She has fueled the fire within me to make a difference… on my own. So often I choose to sit back and do nothing because I am only one person. Ruma is only one person, yet she didn’t wait:

TUNISIA-  Ruma lives by herself in a small city in Tunisia.  Last spring she was moved by the plight of the Libyans and other Africans stranded at the border living in refugee camps.  Ruma looked for a long time to find some way to help out, but the aid agencies were reluctant to take on a single volunteer, even one as dedicated as she was.  So she kept looking, and was drawn to 400 children left behind with no adult or parent to look after them.  She took on extra work to make money to buy milk, clothes, toys, and simple medicines for these children and other needy families in the camps.   Ruma takes a taxi out to the camps each week, filling it with as many supplies as she can manage.  She has been done this every 

week for the last eight months, and will not stop until the last refugee is gone from the camps.  She is determined to make a difference.

Friends I tell you, the way Ruma is writing her story and helping write the stories of the children she’s caring for, inspires me to change how I am writing mine… empowers me to step out from behind my excuses and take action. It is in this change of story direction that I hope to influence someone else the way Ruma has me– not because I seek to be influential, but because as a collective group seeking to make a difference, we make lives better. It is in our community of connection though our stories that healing happens and lives are changed.

What is your story? What story could you be writing?

 

Click here for more information about Humanitarian International Services Group (HISG).

Click here to learn more about my support of HISG and it’s branch organization International Disaster Response Network.

 

Empty book image found here.