A storytelling event that began in October 2021 with the aim of bringing people together through common values will continue on Feb. 1 at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation Building starting at 7 p.m. - but more storytellers are being sought out to get involved.
“Why Did We Come Here, Why Do We Stay” has hosted 40 storytellers since its inception, all members of the Seeley Lake region with a strong pull to the area.
Organizer Tom Beers said that the idea for the event first started as a question: “How do we communicate with each other when we may not see eye to eye on both important and perceived trivial matters?”
The answer: “Find common values among us.”
Beers - who retired as a plaintiff attorney in 2017 after 50 years of practice and has lived in Placid Lake since 1983 - said ideas were then tossed around by a small group of local citizens who wanted to work toward bringing the community together.
“One way was storytelling,” Beers said. “Because we have to listen. We are focused on the story and not trying to think how we might respond. Besides, we can meet folks you may not otherwise meet. The whole idea is to bring people together and find the common values that resonate through our stories.”
Based on the storytelling event and talking to people in the community, Beers surmised that the most important values are “people and place.”
The theme of the storytelling begins with a question: “Why did I come here? And why have I stayed?”
The idea was to build this event “into a kitchen sink discussion, where we do more listening than talking, appreciating different points of view and seeing how common values can be the focus in bringing us together,” Beers said. The event will continue to be live-streamed on the Seeley Swan Pathfinder’s Facebook page. Past streaming events had more than 200 viewers.
“What is clear is the reasons each of us came to the Seeley Lake region are as different as the stories we tell,” Beers has said to the Pathfinder. While he settled in the area in 1983, Beers had been visiting since the 1950s, he said. “Though each story is unique, I suspect there likely is a common thread that runs through most stories as to why ‘this’ place draws us in. I could be wrong but my sense is that why we then stay in this valley is tied to the place and the people. Our common sense of place and people is the foundation of our community.”
To be a storyteller in the February event or future events, contact Beers at beersplacid@gmail.com. Write in the subject “storytelling.”
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