Storytelling

This text was about how African Americans use storytelling as a way of teaching. The author went into different reasons of why people told stories, the points they were trying to get across. Most of the stories were told in reference to the bible.

One story I found interesting was the story about a boy who got in trouble for staying out late and lying to his mother about it. As a punishment she made her son stay in his room and ask God for forgiveness; he wasn’t allowed out until she felt he was forgiven. This story reminds me of the movie, “For Colored Girls”. In this movie, a young girl, about eighteen years old, got pregnant and snuck to have an abortion. When her mother found out, she made her pray to this God they worshiped until she was forgiven, like the boy in this story. While the girl was praying, her mother began to poor oil all over her to wash the sin away. In both cases the children were forced to ask God for forgiveness several times. I believe that you only need to seek forgiveness from God one time, seeing that he is very forgiving. The mothers do not know whether God has forgiven their children, so they shouldn’t have forced them to ask multiple times.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made a speech about being a Good Samaritan, and how important and life changing it is. In this sermon he used the quote, not “What will happen to me if I stop to help this man?” but “What will happen to the man if I do not stop and help him?”. Do you believe that in this day and age, we can follow this way of thinking? With all the crime and schemes people in this world commit, I don’t think we can follow this way of thinking. It’s too risky. Many people have tried to be good Samaritans and got tricked and hurt in the process. It’s unfortunate to say, but it’s hard to help strangers at this time, especially with the economic downfall we are experiencing.