Back to Life: Bringing Traditional Storytelling by Elders Back

This isn't the first time I'm across a prompt like this and then when I was to write on it, I guess I wrote about being back that community kind of lifestyle we once shared, before the world becomes as it's today. This time around if I had the power to bring something to life regardless of what it's, something that has almost gone extinct, I would bring back the popular traditional storytelling by elders and below I'd explain, why so without further ado, let's get to it.

During my childhood I experienced storytelling in person through my grandparents and other elders in our neighborhood, and I love the way we the children usually gather at their feet to listen to the stories they've for us that day. As I grew up I've come to realise that the stories we enjoyed then ain't just story, they are ways they passed the message of wisdom , humility and honesty to us, and as I reflect on them I can tell you for a fact some of those stories shape the person I'm today.

This is the tradition I'd want to bring back if I've to bring something back to life and as we can see, it's already going extinct by the day, in fact I haven't seen this player out in over a decade. And the reason why I want to bring this tradition back is cause I have the belief that we're losing something valuable in our bid and desire to becoming more technologically driven and modern. And that's probably why we see many children of this generation spend hours watching movies, playing games, scrolling through social media and know little or nothing about experience, stories and wisdom of the people who as comes before them, yes I recognise the fact that we've got smartphone that has made access to information seamless, however we must recognise that information isn't the same as wisdom.

Why? The reason isn't fact-fetch; traditional storytelling just has its ways of connecting different generations. For instance, grandparents can tell their child or grandchildren their very own childhood experiences and how the world was then. Imagine children of days hearing about how their parents lived and grew up in a community where everyone cared for themselves and did things together. Via those stories, we children didn't just learn what happened; beyond that, we learned why those things matter.

Another important reason why I want to bring back this particular tradition is because the stories being told help us preserve our culture. Storytelling is one of African societies' traditions, especially for the Yoruba tribes. You'll see it's deeply rooted in not just our traditions but also in our proverbs, folktales, and that's why I want to bring it back because it's in danger of disappearing into the thin air if we don't pass it down. The role of elders in the society can't be downplayed, and that's why a popular Yoruba proverb also attested to that when it says, “Àgbà kì í wàjà, kí orí ọmọ tuntun wọ," meaning an elder can't be in the market and you'll see a baby that's not correctly backed by her mother, because such an elder will always be eager to correct the mother and the child posture.

Saying all this does mean I'm against technology innovation or modern lifestyle; it just means I feel like both can go hand in hand, without one behind the other. I believe when both are combined, it'll be a beautiful experience. Imagine children sitting and listening to stories from their grandparents, which can even be recorded so that future generations can hear them as well, be it directly or listening to them themselves to be shared with their own children and grandchildren. This is important for me because I see storytelling going extinct as losing a piece of who we are.

All photos are generated using ChatGpt.