“The Dangers of the Single Story”

I have watched a TED talk on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s powerful voice discussing about the dangers of a single story. She explains that a lot of people have a misunderstanding about someone from a different country or even a person you heard about because you only listen to one side or perspective of “their” story. The truth is, anything you hear about someone or something is not the whole story or their truth because you did not hear it from them. Watching this video opened my eyes that many people do have a cultural bias towards others and do not care to learn about their experiences. Once you fully grasp the whole story, it will allow you to have empathy on someone and to push those bias thoughts to the side. This is why many stories matter. I am going to give you an example of something from my life: some of my family members believe that I have a lot of money because I live on my own with my twin sister, Crystal and I work as much as I can and of course attend school full time. Since I live on my own, that shows a sense of success and it is; however, some of them consistently ask for money often or think we can afford a bunch of things because we are “hot shit” to them, excuse my language. The truth to this story is, we only have enough for bills and pray we have enough to food shop. We cry on our own time because financial struggle is such a reality; but no one will ever see through that because we always have a smile on our faces. Yes, I am a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes and people probably look at me and think I am rich and have no worries in this world, when it is the complete opposite. I have many stories about my life and so does Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. We are two different individuals; but, both of our stories shows power and authenticity because the experiences and difficulties we went through, shows our true strength and understanding of ourselves, which is why many stories matter. It helps give you a better idea of who someone is and knowing many stories about someone, can help you relate to someone else as well. Therefore, the dangers of a single story will cause judgement and bias toward someone due to not really knowing the whole truth, so get to know someone every day, learn their stories and do not be afraid to share the many amazing stories of your life too.