Fact not fiction of a life telling tales
Fact not fiction of a life telling tales
Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta
It is fact not fabrication that David Alexander does little else
in life except tell tales. The 53-year-old former school teacher
has been traveling far and wide mesmerizing many with the magical
art of story telling.
Like the wandering minstrels of yesteryear David returned to
Indonesia from his hometown in the United States last month to
liven up the holiday season, especially at school campuses. David
is no stranger here as he taught at the Jakarta International
School (JIS) for nine years before he decided to take his stories
on the road.
Before leaving Indonesia six years ago he swapped his teaching
profession for an even more enjoyable way of helping children
open wide the gateway to their imaginations and to get messages
across to them in a more delightful way.
At that time, David's relationship with his wife and mother of
his two daughters seemed to be falling apart. Despite spending
more time with her the pair eventually separated.
With his children grownup, David attended the annual
conference of the Storytelling Foundation International where he
discovered that 15 out of the 50 participants were making a
living telling stories. He was inspired to do the same and began
to collect stories from his life experiences instead of fairy
tales.
Today he specializes in telling real life stories about the
day he got married, or his first day in school. When he is
invited to a home for the retired he changes the storyline to
something of interest to older people. He is most happy when he
is thanked for coming by just to talk to people who may not have
had visitors in a long time.
Human beings have been enjoying stories since times forgotten.
From the hunter returning to the cave with food and colorful
accounts of the adventure that went into gathering the meal to
present day features found in books, the cinema and on radio,
people are always hungry for stories. That is because the
ultimate tale of the truth about who we are and why we are here
still remains to be told.
And till that happens the people of this world will continue
to be divided up into story tellers, and those seated cross
legged forever eager to listen to yet another tale of love, hate,
betrayal and bravery.
A good story is described as a warm hug connecting one human
being with another. Ancient as the art of oral story telling is,
the modern world moans its dearth.
Just as David is full of admiration for a world that affords
him the luxury of traveling to different corners of the globe
with such speed and allows him to make a living out of something
that he does not even consider work, he is also critical of the
way more and more people prefer to hobnob with machines rather
than with each other.
"Today more than ever before we need stories so that we can
learn more about who we are," David told The Jakarta Post. He
believes that a good story teller is one who is also a good
listener.
Misunderstandings multiply among mankind as more people refuse
to listen or talk to others. He feels as he discusses the power
of myth that he is able to make people experience both terrible
and noble deeds.
Meghna Alladi, 17, of JIS who recalls listening to David many
years ago while she was still in elementary school says that his
enthusiasm is infectious.
She loves both listening and reading stories as each one gives
her a vicarious thrill of being someone different or in places
she can never dream of experiencing in one life time.
Apart from entertaining audiences, David cherishes the thought
that he is actually practicing a very important community
activity.
Just the hope that he may be healing, breaking down barriers
or building bridges among people, especially children, is why he
wants to continue telling stories for the rest of his life.