Meet Narrative 4 , an education-focused organization that promotes a curriculum centered on a ‘culture of care’. This means, in essence, helping kids cultivate deep empathy for others. Studies agree that putting yourself in another person’s shoes can, in turn, make you a better person.
“By bringing people together through storytelling, we will build a new narrative for immigration, for the environment, for peace. Our narrative is for change, for fearless hope, and for radical empathy,” Narrative 4’s site explains.
The main tools in their kit consist of language and literature, two forces that history proves immensely powerful. They ask pairs of participants—often individuals with very different experiences—to do a “story exchange”. Each person hears a story about the other person and then retells it in the first person, effectively reliving their partner’s experience.
“If I can hear your story deeply enough to retell it in my own words as if it happened to me and, you can do the same for my story, then we will have seen the world through each other’s eyes,” they state.
With sponsors like Esquire, HBO, and Amazon, and partnerships with several other organizations, Narrative 4 has roots all over the world—including chapters in Ireland, South Africa, Mexico, New York, and Connecticut.
Their chapter in Connecticut, established in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, is a reminder that empathy and unrelenting hope actually do create change, even when it seems impossible at first.
Colum McCann – Democracy of Storytelling from Narrative 4 on Vimeo.
Feature photo: Narrative 4 Instagram.
