Stories...

Life, as I see it, is a narrative and we are its narrators. What we write determines how the story unfolds. Of course, outside circumstances and other characters play a role, but they merely paint the landscape through which the protagonist must navigate. It is us, as the narrators, who determine how the protagonist reacts to his or her environment. We determine how we behave, who we are, and what our stories are. Just us. And so I wonder, who would you be without your story?

My favourite story for this week - both in print and in film - is To Kill a Mockingbird. It may in fact be my favourite story of all time. It so poignantly establishes just that principle - that we are solely responsible for who we are and how we react to the world around us. I leave you with perhaps my favourite line of the entire story: "If there's just one kind of folk, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?"