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I Believe In Stories

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I believe in stories.

Sometimes I am asked

if telling a story is really any different

to sharing a book with a child.

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As a child I heard many stories.

I believe in stories in a live-and-die kind of way,

to keep the living alive, and the dead.

Stories that live and breathe.

Stories that are fruitful and multiply. That create stories

within stories.

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I trust in stories. Storytelling is hardwired into our brains:

it dictates how we think,

how we understand the world,

and how we make people free.

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I believe

that Rapunzel let down her beautiful hair.

I believe in stories, because they reach

to something realer than real.

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I still don’t know whether I believe

in saints, angels, or a God, but I believe in stories.

The world has enough dogma.

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I believe that you can’t hate humankind

no matter how vile it’s become –

and, you know, I believe in stories. Many of us

would be a fool without them.