Framing Stories to Empower
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Over the last few years, it seems like every non-profit has jumped on the storytelling bandwagon. It's hard to go to a conference without a session on storytelling and improving your storytelling skills.
Don't get me wrong. Stories are extremely important (in fact, I serve on the board of Ex Fabula, a local Milwaukee organization that builds community through the art of storytelling). A well-told story disengages our brain, which is hardwired to criticize, and engages our heart, which allows us to empathize. And it is for that very reason, how we tell stories, especially about the people who utilize our services, is perhaps even more important.
This is why I was so heartened this morning by this Marketplace Money story about the economic anxieties being experienced by Betty Moncrief, a senior living on a fixed income in Alabama. The story presents the tough daily choices she has to make with her limited resources and the stark reality of many she knows living with similar circumstances.
We go over her monthly finances. She gets a Social Security check every month for $754. She gets $79 a month in food stamps. That doesn’t go too far. Most fresh vegetables are out of reach.
“I haven’t bought brussel sprouts," Betty said. "I like eggplants. I don’t buy that. I don’t buy tomatoes all the time.”
[snip]
And Betty said she’s got friends who are a lot worse off than she is. Friends who don’t have family around, and who are running out of money. Betty said a handful of friends have even tried suicide.
But instead of making her seem pitiful and powerless, which is often the case for stories like these, this story frames her as an active agent in her own life, with hardworking values that we all share.
In the stack, a bill for $34.44. It's her monthly payment toward a vault for her grave.
“It’s my only luxury that I’m really paying for, for myself," she said. "Somebody got to buy it. So I might as well try to buy it myself.”
[snip]
Betty said when she’s feeling low or doesn’t feel well, she gets active. She grabs a rake, grabs her neighbor and heads outside.
“We be out there raking up dirt in the back alley," she said, laughing. "Picking it up – and leaves. Trying to keep it clean.”
She said she’s making it, and that she won’t give up.
A less sensitive storyteller may have chosen to frame Betty's struggle in a way that didn't empower her and unfortunately, many of the stories we hear in the media about people who need help are framed in such a way. I understand why; it's a hard thing to do when you are on deadline. But, the vast majority of people that I have met dealing with tough challenges in life are confronting those challenges with a similar form of Betty's resilience and optimism. And their full stories should be told.