And this is why we tell the story...

"Once on this Island" is one of my all-time favorite stories. Great score, beautiful music, powerful lyrics, all attesting to the incredible power of a good story told. What's not to like?

In our family, we tend to approach Advent with an eye towards social justice. At a time of year when we've just celebrated the bounty of the harvest and counted all our blessings, it seems practically criminal not to look towards those who do not live in plenty and who seek justice.

One of my favorite Advent books is Winter Saints by Melissa Musick Nussbaum. In just a few short days, we've already heard the stories of Isaiah, St. Catherine Laboure, Dorothy Day, St. Andrew, and Rosa Parks. And we're only on the first week of Advent! We'll be keeping company with a "great cloud of witnesses" and what I really like about Ms. Nussbaum's book is that she approaches Advent with an eye towards social justice well.

While reading the story of Rosa Parks to my children, I realized that the story was told differently to me as a child. When I first heard it, Rosa Parks was almost portrayed as lazy, a tired seamstress who just didn't want to sit where she was supposed to on the bus.

In reality, Rosa Parks was a tireless woman who had been studying the works of Ghandi and the concept of non-violent protest. In reality, Rosa Parks was the mother of a two-week-old daughter and had just worked a full day when she was arrested. In reality, Rosa Parks had known for a while that she was going to take a stand--or a seat--for equality. The Montgomery bus boycott wasn't a spur of the moment action, but a planned protest, and when Rosa Parks said, "Do what you have to do. I am not moving," she did it knowing full well the repercussions of her actions.


There is a temptation, when telling the stories of heroes and saints, to make them out to be victims. They're oppressed, put down, treated unfairly. I'm coming to realize that this does them a huge disservice. In many cases these saints and heroes walk up to their fate with eyes wide open, knowing the consequences of what they are about to choose... and they choose it anyway. That's what makes them saints and heroes.

And this is why we tell the story. We tell it not because we want our children to feel sorry for those who have gone before them, but because we want them to be empowered by them. We want them to hear the stories of brave men and women who chose what was right and true and just not only when it was convenient to them, but even when it was not.

For out of what we live
And we believe,
Our lives become the stories
That we weave.