While this article in the New York Times relates to recovering from the trauma of terrorism, the reference to storytelling also applies to disruption in learning today. Perhaps PSA interviews are a form of story telling for all of us as we adapt to the disruption in learning going on around us.
Recovering from trauma is mainly an exercise in storytelling. As Richard Tedeschi, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has pointed out, trauma is a shock that ruptures the central story that you thought was your life.
The recurring patterns that make up life are disrupted. The sense of safety is lost. Having faced death, people in these circumstances are forced to confront the elemental questions of life.
But some people are able to write a new story. As Tedeschi writes, post-traumatic growth comes not from the event but from the struggle afterward to write a new story that imagines a life better than before. Researchers have found that people who thrive after a shock are able to tell clear, forward-looking stories about themselves, while those who don’t thrive get stuck ruminating darkly about the past.
Book 1 is life before the event. Book 2 is the event that shattered the old story. But Book 3 is reintegration, a reframing new story that incorporates what happened and then points to a more virtuous and meaningful life than the one before.
Kris, agree that narrative is something powerfully impactful on our ability to cope and function and thrive. “The Power of Myth” for example. Since we are all a product of the cultural narratives we grow up with, making sure those stories work for today’s world is essential.
As people try to adjust to disruption across the board, narrative can help explain to ourselves what is going on, and how we fit into the new world. PSA can help identify and perhaps create some narratives, which support learning and learners in a time of great change..
Alas, as times change, some turn to old narratives for guidance that do not in fact “work” in today’s world. Extremist POV often involves a story where one can reclaim some form of identity or self esteem by promoting and undertaking violence against another group. Clearly they have the story wrong, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a powerful attractant to some who somehow lack a narrative for themselves that works for them in a positive and non apocalyptic way.
As Bucky Fuller says, provide a different model to make the old model obsolete.
Not to wax too optimistic, but PSA goals align with many others who see new cloud tools as potentially fulfilling that present gap in narratives that “validate” respectful and tolerant identity, and give a choice over dysfunctional identities. What we hope the Zuckerberg and Jobs and Gates and others funding can help bring about. See post on Emerson Collective.
The world is full of tragic narratives that turn out poorly in the end, but there’s also stories with happy endings, and we certainly are in need of those today.
John, see my latest post on Hamlet as a tragic narrative that is being retold in an innovative approach using world class technology and accessing the world community. The next step….where is the world community discussion once the event ends?