"I exist! I exist!"

Listening Is An Act of Love caused me to think about what people I've encountered in my life who's stories I would want to share with generations to come. I began to think of my close friends, then past people of my life, my family, odd acquaintances I held for some time, and most foreign of all, brief encounters with people in conversations as impermanent as the time we spent together.

But, like most, I had a strong urge to have the people closest to me tell their stories. And, I'm assuming like most, I believe that the people I choose to surround myself with are the most interesting and inspiring people there are! And that's what I think is the key to StoryCorps. The people interviewed may not be Nobel Peace Prize Winners, or CEOs. Hell, not even professors of anything. But they are champions and warriors to a different audience. And their stories have the potential to open insight that an interview with a professor never could.

StoryCorps doesn't ask that the interviewee be accomplished in a certain field, or have a measured level of success, simply that they have a story to share. And if only one listener thinks that person's story is worth sharing, then that's the only audience member needed. The project focuses on individual relationships, and caters to the two people talking in the booth, instead of ratings or commercial value. They choose to turn their attention toward making sure the story these people in the relationship share is permanent, articulated, and recorded down in history. Because every story exists, and it's existence is worth preserving.