The story of The Others is rich and funny. A crew of journalists is invited to make a documentary in Fairy Tale Land. Instead of interviewing stars (the Mains), they choose to interview the supporting characters (the Others) who live in the shadows of fantasy and fame. It's got some hilarious moments (check out the Pub scene...) I've seen several performances by this group, and all of them turned out wonderfully. But The Others is the biggest and most ambitious. It says to me that as Empowered gains experience, they will be an interesting force for education and change.
Which is sort of the heart of the story. It isn't so much that people suffer prejudices. More significantly, people don't hear, understand or share the living stories of others. Few of us will ever be Mains, and if we get the chance we need to recognize both our impact on the world and our responsibility. Bishop Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix teaches that the secret to building unity is story-telling. That's sort of what I do here in my blog. How do you tell your story...?
Every time I participate in an Empowered production I understand that people with disabilities are just like me. I even hate using that word because it creates categories, and you all know what happens when we put Others in boxes. It's hard in our world to avoid it. But we really need to train ourselves to see that other people are people FIRST, regardless of what makes them different. In fact, being different isn't even a bad thing; we're just different.
So, if you ever feel "too different" to join in, just tell your story, just tell a little bit of it. Take small bites. Share it with someone and suddenly, you're not alone!
