Witnesses from the Circle

Traditions come hard and die too easily. Our temporary passages through this life are often hurried and unnoted. Sadly, often in the endless generation's cycle of body, mind, and spirit, our accounts form, repeat, and echo through history wild, reckless, and unharnessed.

The sacred traditions of the Native American First Nations were often carried on the lips of the tribal elders. Repeated down through the generations, those stories became the history that comforted, taught, and illuminated the seekers of the future.

A few years ago, while traveling through Montana, I heard reports of the story circle revival. A Renaissance holding great promise to renew some of these lost traditions swept the imagination of the state. Farmers, ranchers, and townspeople traveled hours to assemble and tell their stories. These recollections, raw and unedited, were the foundation of the region's history. Representing countless personal journals to the future, the ordinary became extraordinary. The dedicated, unique, and priceless touch of those who affected the way before filtered down to those who would come after.

The 'story circles' as they became known brought strangers together. Commonality transformed distances, familiarity forged beyond alienation and intimacy overruled differences as hesitant voices danced through the halls of mountain community centers and fell from the rafters of isolated prairie granges. Many of these story circles eventually became places where sequestered gay men and women came out, told their stories and even found acceptance.

Regardless, no one left these informal gatherings unaffected.

I believe in this tradition. With the arrival of the Internet comes the opportunity to share our stories. However raw, unfiltered or possibly lacking in the sensibilities of refined political ideologies, the stories are quite simply what they are. Told from the perspective of each narrator, they came, they saw, and this is their gift back to the rest of us.

Some of their words are unsettling. Controversial. Maybe even disturbing. Others relate journeys of incredible courage, and unsung heroism. Each is uniquely personal but ironically universal. Some contributors offer their real names while others write under pseudonyms. Covering a wide range of subjects, we hope that you will enjoy this, our contribution to the universal story circle.

A circle that hopefully day by day is bringing us all closer together.

~Timothy Anderson

“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?”

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God, your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some. It is in everyone.

And as we let our light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

~ Marianne Williamson from her work "A Return to Love."