Mister Rogers says that when terrible things happen, to look for the helpers.
Terrible things are happening. I’m upset. And I’m angry. And I’m so sad.
While I am looking for the helpers, I am also doing my best to be a helper.
I have to be honest: when a domestic terrorist organization, created and unleashed on us by our own government, are terrorizing, tear-gassing, kidnapping, and murdering with impunity, the way I help feels pretty pointless.
It feels woefully inadequate to me, but I entertain, I tell stories, I help you recover your hit points. It’s what I know how to do, and it’s what I do best. And I keep reminding myself that if I can make something that helps someone else create the space I have when I read a book or listen to an album, or whatever I’m doing to rest, then I have to do that. I can’t not do that. This is my purpose. I entertain, especially when it feels like entertaining is less important than something other people need entertainment to get a break from doing.
I want to be crystal clear: I am not comparing myself to anyone, or suggesting that what I do is equivalent, but we all do what we can, right? I’m doing my best, I think.
What I do right now, and what I hope to do until I retire, is tell you stories that help you create a bit of safe space to just … be … for a minute, a place where you can recover some hit points, while you listen. Today, I went to the studio, and told you a story that you will hear next week. I was so grateful to have a break of my own. I loved doing this story. It was so satisfying to focus on how I chose the narrator’s emotional point of view, to find my own narrative pace, to notice something in the narrative that I hadn’t, before. To feel that indescribable thing performers only feel in our bodies when we perform.
It was a privilege and a blessing, all made possible by authors who said yes, a team of people who believe in me, and so many people I will never meet, who trust me with their time and attention, week after week.
I am so grateful. I will continue to do my best.
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I’m sorry for everyone living in the US right now who never wanted this, I hope one day things will be restored back to the entertaining and big-hearted country that you are. Focus on the things in your space within your control and take time for yourselves.
Having things like your podcast really helps with my anxiety. So thank you. Your are a helper.
Hi Wil. It’s Storytime is my companion as I go through chemotherapy for a cancer. Brightens my day !
Thanks, Tim
Thanks Wil! For me I find the consistency helpful. Knowing I can still look forward to your narrations, or the Delta Flyers, or one of many other positive inputs in my life, helps me to keep plodding forward. I too don’t see many opportunities to be a helper right now, but at least with your help I can avoid sliding into the darkness.
Hey brother, as long as you keep doing what you can and showing up I’ll keep consuming. You are a safe (virtual) presence and I appreciate everything you do and say. Also, take care of yourself during these trying times. Big love to you and your family.
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE GOOD YOU CAN DO BY PROVIDING ENTERTAINMENT! I worked for a computer game company for awhile and got read and hear customer comments. There were a few that stood out to me. The customer who had a parent die and needed a distraction. The customer who struggled with back pain and needed a distraction. The first responders in New York on 9/11 who called to order a game to let them cope with the absolute tragedy that was going down.
We need stories. We need entertainment. We absolutely need that safe space. It is not as flashy as other jobs, but it is absolutely critical to allow people to cope and survive.
HUGS
I really think you’ve found your niche with Storytime and your continued writing projects, bringing joy to others (and how great you don’t have to be on a stage or film set to read other folks’ writing, something that caused you great unhappiness and stress sometimes. Here you also have true collaborators).
But Wil, as Yoda says, “Do or do not. There is no try.” And you’ve been doing wonderfully well being a Helper for some time now, being very open about your life and your advocacy for mental health; also, how you have advocated for yourself as a survivor and been an inspiration for so many, including young people, not just adults.
Yeah, just keep doing what you’ve always been doing. 🙏
I just finished listening to “A Cure for Solastalgia” and am doing an immediate re-listen. You’re sharing a story that provides a really positive alternative to burning it all down. Books, music, art… it reminds us of our humanity and capacity to love for the sake of loving. Important stuff. Take care of yourself and, please, keep reading us stories.
I recently discovered you and love your writing. Please keep up the good work in bringing peace and hope to our ever loving hearts.
Wil please do not underestimate what you mean to gestures with hand all of us. Yes you are our safe space relaxing by listening to your voice tell us stories but to me and I guessing to others you are much more. You are the spouse we all want to be to our significant others. You are the dad that we want to be to our children. You are the voice of a generation of nerds who looked at Wesley as there idol and most important you are the fires of Gondor and guide us to aid others in this time of darkness. You are our Gandalf the white helping to bring light where there is dark. Thank you for being uniquely you.
Thank you.
You allow us to enter other worlds, and provide some real emotional distance from what’s happening in the “real” world. True resistance doesn’t happen without respite. Your podcast stories and your writings and narrations are healing. You help people understand that they are heard. I think artists tend to get the shortest shrift, when their work is some of the single most important. It’s where everyone went to when the world shut down, and now it’s where we go when we want to understand others better. When we want to see a better world. You are bringing a small flame to the dark. If all of us can do the same, how brightly we can shine.
Everything you do is appreciated, Wil. You are one of the good guys.
Thank you for being one of the helpers, Wil!
Social justice bards are just as necessary as any other class. This is a long fight, and we have to remember what we’re fighting for.
Besides, my partner – a public school teacher – needs short stories for his first literary analysis assignment. I think I’ve sent them almost all of the ones you’ve read on the pod. I especially appreciate the diversity of voices; my partner teaches in a rural district that could use that.