Windows on the World

It was the spoken word that first provided children with a window to a world beyond their own. Story tellers would regale their listeners with adventures and descriptions of fabulous far away places, some real and some imaginary. Listening to a fine story-teller is still one of my favorite activities, whether it is listening to Pa tell one of his family stories, Bruce Springsteen singing about the people he knows, Sandy reading aloud a children’s book, an actor narrating a Ken Burns documentary or some strong voice reading a novel on an audio book. Through experiences like these I have seen more of the world than I could ever possibly touch in a lifetime. Our boys can experience these places too, if they just listen.