THE STORY OF CHANGE

Living in 2020 is like watching the final episode of an epic season. Change is happening. Characters are leaving. New characters are being introduced. And I cannot wait to see what the first episode of the next season is going to look like... 

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For the teachers, kids, and parents in this narrative, this chaotic time of in-cohesive pieces is being shaken and stirred in unpredictable ways. Parents are home with their kids full day after day. Parents are seeing how their kids work, as they attempt to teacher them double digit subtraction or just attempt to get them to pick up a pencil. Teachers have lost complete contact with some kids and parents. Some parents are messaging their kid's teacher daily asking, "How in the world do you do this?" or "Why is my kid doing this?". Even the kids themselves are adjusting to these changes in their own complicated ways. 

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But through all of this change and trial, this may be the cultural reset that really transforms the narrative. New leverage points will emerge, as the stories inform new systems, stocks, flows, and loops. Of course, a child and their disability can never be truly captured by a diagram or fancy terminology. But stories help us get to a level of understanding that exposes places where we can intervene, support and help one another. And the stories coming out of this weird time are bountiful. 2020 is the year of change, but it is also the year of stories. Especially as we are all living in this socially distant, phone and zoom call world, where "catching up" is a talk on the phone instead of a date at a coffee shop. 

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People are communicating through stories in new, rich and inventive ways. Teachers are hearing a new story from the parents. Not one of blame, or anti-stories of accusation, but instead stories of gratitude and empathy. And parents are hearing their children's stories in ways that they've never heard them before. One of the most interesting things about this project was my inaccessibility to an actual child's story. Although the child's struggles were the center for this project, I was only able to capture their stories through their parents, teachers and administration. Now, kids have the space to tell their own stories. And we have the time to listen. 

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So what could this mean for our narrative?

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The highlighted story-telling term here is: difference.

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A difference is a felt difficulty, an elimination or discordance. Difference is the spark that reveals contradictions between image and narrative. It is the awareness of a distortion of how we perceive whats going on compared to what is actually going on. And this time, this story of change is putting students, kids and parents alike in a place of discordance. While it is difficult and disruptive, this change is pulling back the perceptive curtain that hides all the places where we fall short of seeing the big picture truth. 

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Through a combination of non-linear thinking and openness to each other's stories, especially the stories that contradict our own, we can approach the system with compassion and empathy. That is the greatest leverage point. Hearing one another. Acknowledging felt difficulties, rather than blaming or searching for solutions without listening to all stories.

 

Stories come first. Who we listen to, who we respect, and how we approach an issue impact how an issue is seen and therefore solved. Narrative relies on our ability to understand that our story is constantly shifting. Our stories are not stagnant. They are living. They have the power to inform. And they have the power to change. 

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