The Journal - The Stories We Tell - Mr Currie

 The subtitle of this blog contains a quote from the 17th/18th century poet  Walter Scott (only he used the term 'diary' not journal.

Here is a video explaining the quote and what it means to me.

Today's GeekWisdom is inspired by a recent unicorn planning party, but the lesson comes from my Gr 11 English Teacher. His name was Mr. Currie. From the first day of class, Mr Currie encouragef us to keep a journal. At the top of his chalkboard he had written

"A journal is useful to the person who keeps it, dull to the contemporary who reads it, invaluable years later to the student who treasures it"

He told us all to write that on the front page of our journals.  

When you walked into Mr Curries classroom, it was a mess, there was this "stuff" everywhere, bottles & cans, the wheel of a bicycle, an old fashioned hourglass, to any onlooker it would be clear that Mr Currie was a very disorganized 'pack rat'.  And on the top of his desk sat the handle of a shopping cart.

Mr. Currie taught the material pretty much like every other English teacher, but with one difference. He was a storyteller - He loved telling stories, he could not contain the smile on his face when he told a story to his class, and often even those sleeping in the back would perk up for a minute to listen when he started.

And so it was in the middle of the semester when he told us the story of the Shopping Cart. It was from the perspective of the shopping cart itself, the "life" it had lived, what

it had seen and done, and how it ended up broken in the ditch of the shopping mall, where Mr Currie would find only the handle, and give it a new home.

Mr Currie taught me - that our entire life is a story, a narrative that we tell in our own minds over and over, and often it has one lens, "our perspective". Mr. Currrie's story was  different it wasn't' about how 'he found' the shopping cart it was the story of the shopping cart.

So I ask you, what is the story you are telling about your own life?? What role do you play it in, are you the hero?, the protagonist, the victim?, or only a supporting role? Would

you believe me if I told you it's your story, and only you have the power to tell it how you want it, and no one else? - 

Something to think about ...and be proud of your inner Geek.

For more on the stories we create I recommend the book "Be the Hero" by Noah Blumenthal. You can get it for free from archive.org 

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