In find­ing mean­ing and pur­pose, we con­tin­u­ally grasp at a greater story. Though in such quest, we might will­ingly ignore the story we find our­selves in. For each story is a sin­gle stroke in the mas­ter­piece of the greater story. One must come to his senses in who he is and why he is. And he must seek to under­stand ‘who’ and ‘why’ in the greater con­text of ‘we’ and ‘us’. It is in this inter­ac­tion that we be, do and relate. We respond and protest as we embrace our sto­ries and the sto­ries of those around us.

We encounter igno­rance and mis­un­der­stand­ing as we be, do and relate. We see a world in need. There are too many who are ignored and mis­un­der­stood in every soci­ety. The voices of the ignored and mis­un­der­stood are eerily silent. Their sto­ries are unknown or unsaid. They tend to retreat to the mar­gins, stuck in the shad­ows, beyond thought or emo­tion. They silently cry out to be heard and understood.

Yet we do not respond to or protest the inhu­man­ity of a world drenched in pain and suf­fer­ing. We remain indif­fer­ent and our indif­fer­ence leads to igno­rance and mis­un­der­stand­ing. In most instances, this is borne out of a desire to remain an observer in the story. There is a desire to remain a safe dis­tance away; this is because giv­ing your atten­tion to some­thing implies that you could be affected by it; it also implies that you would be drawn to action. In our indif­fer­ence we stay ‘safe’ within our walls of com­fort and self­ish­ness; this gives way to igno­rance and misunderstanding.

The oppo­site of igno­rance and mis­un­der­stand­ing are lis­ten­ing and under­stand­ing. Lis­ten­ing is more than just hear­ing a story. Lis­ten­ing to a story requires you to be fully engaged in mind, will, and emo­tions. Lis­ten­ing also gives a story a voice, which in turn brings rev­e­la­tion. Most peo­ple want to tell a story; the fact that their story is heard, gives it a sense of dig­nity. Under­stand­ing moves you to a place where you have processed the story; you are not just lis­ten­ing, but pro­cess­ing through emo­tions and thoughts asso­ci­ated with the story. Under­stand­ing means that you are affected by the story in your being, doing, and relat­ing. Under­stand­ing also implies that you have more rea­son to act in response and protest.

If we are to embrace the story we find our­selves in as well as push towards the greater story, then we must enter that story. We must lis­ten and under­stand. It is only when we have truly lis­tened and under­stood, that we are able to respond and protest in aware­ness and humil­ity. This is when our being, doing, and relat­ing, have found mean­ing and purpose.

We live in a world of igno­rance and mis­un­der­stand­ing. There are count­less sto­ries ignored and mis­un­der­stood; which lead to indif­fer­ence and inac­tion, and could lead to ill-will and mal­ice toward a cer­tain story. In liv­ing in a world that is con­sumed with igno­rance and mis­un­der­stand­ing, we must seek out the unsaid sto­ries and give them a voice.