It is rare to come across an organization that touches you so deeply that you actually think about them long after you have left. This was my case with StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the power of storytelling and the importance of preserving stories.
StoryCorps was founded by Dave Isay with the intention of creating a more compassionate world. He started off by setting up a story booth in Grand Central Station in New York City where any ordinary person could go and bring a person to interview. Within the booth, there is a mediator and a microphone to record the interview. Both people in the booth receive a copy of the recorded interview at the end of the session and have the option of saving their interview within the Library of Congress so that their great-grandchildren can have the opportunity to listen to their recorded story.
Although the idea seems fairly simple, it is an ingenious way to preserve memories of people and their wisdom. Since its creation, StoryCorps has expanded to collecting and recording stories from all fifty states and has recently launched their own app where one can record their story from any location. Although the accents and names of the stories change from location to location, the core of every story is virtually the same everywhere.
They all boil down to lessons about love, humanity, and family, which illuminates the reassuring message that although people have differing opinions and conflicting morals, we are all human and thus, we are all inherently the same. As humans, we are all inherently the same.
StoryCorps is the perfect way to leave a legacy for future generations or to simply celebrate and preserve the memory of a person that you care about. It is a free way to send love and build a world where we are all connected through the power of our words and experiences. Bringing a person to a StoryCorps booth is definitely on my bucket list of things to do before I die and it certainly should be on yours too because sometimes, the best thing to do is just listen.