By Gretchen Woods

Publisher

We went metformin weight loss in for a little history over a recent weekend.

Might sound a little dry when I put it that way — history does have that connotation, for some reason — but the reality was anything but.

What we really did was head over to the museum and listen to people tell stories. Which, of course, is what history is, underneath the dates and the names and the other assorted facts.

It was time for the annual People of Our Past program, when local actors take on five people from local history to portray. The presentations were great, but the really impressive part was taking on questions from the audience without appearing to break a sweat.

Which tells me they either really, really did their homework, or they’re even better actors than we think. Either way, it was fun to watch.

It got me thinking about the power of stories. From the days of prehistoric oral traditions — legends told around campfires — to the proliferation of blogs and tweets and who knows what else, we’ve been fascinated with hearing other people’s stories.

They don’t even have to be real people’s stories. (Think “soap opera.”)

We listen in order to learn. Or to escape from our own troubles. Or, on occasion, to be polite while we mentally make a grocery list…but sometimes that’s the little bit of grease that keeps polite society going.

The stories we share can knit our communities together. They tell us what things we value and what things we don’t.

When it comes to history, we strain our ears to hear an echo of the past: what was it really like to live in 1900? Or 1800? Or 400? That’s why we flock to places like colonial Williamsburg or Civil War re-enactments. They’re like low-tech time machines.

Look around sometime, and you’ll notice we’re awash in stories; everybody has at least one. Which ones are we telling? Which ones are we forgetting?

Sometimes it’s even more fun telling stories than hearing them. That’s why some of us end up working at newspapers. If you know of one we should be telling, let us know.