This pair of hands belongs to a burly Cornishman with thick set arms and small eyes. I don’t know what he thought when I asked if I could photograph his knuckles. I think he was a tiny bit flattered but also bemused. It’s hard to see the H and the E on his left hand, but the letters are very much there, tattooed into his skin. HATE.
As as storyteller I’m often thinking about extremes. The best and the worst of what we are capable of as human beings, or as characters in a different narrative. I care about the characters which is I why I care about what happens next. In a way it’s part of being a writer of fiction, but it’s also part of being human - thinking about the effects one person might have on another, the consequences of a conversation, an action or perhaps an inaction. What we do and say as individuals effects not only our personal selves, but everyone we come into contact with.
This month I’m sharing a conversation that Dr. Jane Goodall has with the U.S. Senator, Cory Booker, on her new series of podcasts, or ‘Hopecasts’ as she calls them. I’m sharing this one in particular because I often worry that being a storyteller in a time of global crisis isn’t of much use. And perhaps it isn’t. There’s so much pain, so much hate. How can a story possibly help? But then again, here is a little of what she has to say and I’m once again reminded that yes, there is hate. But there is LOVE too. And it’s just as fierce, just as powerful, just as determined.
“Let’s work on the empathy. How do we do that? We tell them stories. We help them to think by spreading goodness and empathy far and wide, further and wider than the hate.” - Dr. Jane Goodall
I hope you find a moment to hear the conversation in full. It is well worth a listen.
The Jane Goodall Hopecast : Hope is Expanding Empathy and the Moral Imagination
For more on the work that Jane Goodall does: The Jane Goodall Institute
For children and young people who are interested in taking action, even on a small scale to improve their local community: Roots and Shoots