Stories We Create: Telling Who We Are (Part 1)

Comic-Con International draws over 130,000 people to San Diego each year.  A convention with its beginning in the basement of a local hotel (1970), now bursts out of the downtown convention center and through surrounding city blocks and neighborhoods.  Conventioneers, locals, and every superhero you can imagine comingle in this fun, festive, and energetic atmosphere.

Taking in the sites yesterday, I reflected on the many stories we create:

• We meet heroes every day through parents, teachers, and work colleagues who sacrifice time and energy to make our world a better place.
• We create positive change through our words and actions.
• We dispel darkness and ignorance by choosing to live lives connected with others.

Do we recognize and acknowledge the heroes in our lives?

Stories We Create: We Become Heroes
(Heroes and Locals , Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego)

People who were dressed up -- in costumes -- posed for photos with others whose costumes may have been hidden or more internal:  stories we create about ourselves or others;  images we project or take on.

Are our daily lives as colorful and uninhibited when we clothe ourselves in these inner fictions?

Walking along, a friend noticed a costumed character walking by an evangelist who was sharing his message of repentance and hope.  I didn't get a photo of the costumed character but I did capture the religious message.  Without commenting on the message or the messenger, I wondered:

What message do we proclaim about another person's Sacred Worth and Value?

Stories We Create: Messages Shared
(Evangelist, Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade, San Diego)

Activity bursting from the convention center must cross over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade before it reaches the Gaslamp Quarter and other downtown neighborhoods.  The Promenade is a walkway lined with grass, trees, water, and fountains, interspersed with quotes from Dr. King and various sculptures capturing the Civil Rights Movement.

Through the nonviolent sharing of diverse stories, hope and freedom were opened for all citizens.  The chains of enslaved minds were revealed; the costumes and stories were exposed.  I wondered:

• What stories are we chained to, stories told and retold for too many years?
• Can our dialogue practices break us free from costumed stories put on unwillingly?

Stories We Create: Chained to the Story
(Breaking the Chains, sculture by Melvin Edwards;
Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade, San Diego)

In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr:

"Along the way of life, Someone must have sense enough and morality enough
to cut off the chain of hate.  This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives." 

May this week allow us to break from conventional bonds that keep us from becoming heroes to one another!

Larry Gardepie
Dialogue San Diego Consulting