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.