H236: The Historian’s Craft: Oral History and IU/IU Southeast History: Oral History Resources

Famed child psychiatrist and scholar Robert Coles "feels that we learn our most lasting moral lessons through stories. Storytelling, in the form of both personal narratives and the established literary tradition, gives us a fuller understanding of ourselves and the experiences of others. ‘The whole point of stories,’ he observes, ‘is not 'solutions' or 'resolutions' but a broadening and even heightening of our struggles.’ They remind us of what is important in life, admonish us, point us in new directions, engage us in self- reflection, and sometimes inspire us to lead lives of moral integrity. The beauty of a story, he says, is in its openness — ‘the way you or I can take it in, and use it for ourselves.’ Often they embody ‘the moral contradictions and inconsistencies in our personal lives," and thus give context and meaning to the social and political narratives of society at large.’” –“A Way of Seeing: The Work of Robert Coles” by Scott London, http://www.scottlondon.com/articles/coles.html (Accessed Nov. 10, 2014).