There's a growing resurgence of storytelling all over the country. People are softening, opening up. They're realizing that there's not a lot of time left to re-integrate certain sustaining values, like compassion and understanding. That movement is happening as we speak. People are awakening to some of the destruction that we've done individually, in the family, communally - there's a lot of language in the culture right now about addiction, abuse, pollution.
Life is hard on the planet for everybody.
People obviously are becoming aware of the need to change, from a personal to a societal level. Neighborhoods and communities that are intact contribute to an intact planet. Working with children, I feel a lot more hopeful than I would if I did some other kind of work - but not just hopeful. Now that I think about it, we tell each other stories all the time about trips, work, little adventures, our pasts. But storytelling is, by its nature, personal.