Writing Our New Story

By Dave Pollard

If Thomas King is right, and stories are all we are, then it seems to me we have two choices in life. We can either live the story that others have written for us, or we can write our own story.

The story of our culture, the story others wrote for us, teaches us:

that we are at heart sinful, lazy, untrustworthy, in need of salvation or redemption

that our world is a place of danger, frightening, cruel, brutal, plagued with scarcity and adversity

that we should do what we're told by our betters, and be grateful for what we have

that the world was created for man and man alone, as his dominion

that we should multiply and fill the earth, regardless of the consequences for the rest of life

that we should spend our life working hard and acquiring, because our worth is measured by what we own

that our heroes are fighters, warriors, those who struggle and conquer and overcome

that no matter what we do, god will forgive us and clean up our mess before it gets too bad

There are several novel resources that those of us who find this story unsatisfactory, counter-instinctive, and dangerous, can use to write a different story, a New Story

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The list above is in red in the original post. Click more and don't miss the green list, the different story.