“The Power of your Suffering Is in How You Tell your Story”, Aminatta Forna in PBS NewsHour’s My Humble Opinion

Aminatta Forna spoke about trauma in the “In My Humble Opinion” segment of PBS NewsHour. She responds to what she considers an overuse of the word “trauma”, in the way society creates a self-fulfilling prophecy when telling people who have gone through terrible events that they are irrevocably damaged. For her, “the ability to shape your own narrative, rather than having others shape it for you, is ultimately what matters most. The power of the story lies in the hands of the storyteller”. “Almost any experience can be reshaped, any destiny re-imagined, if those who have lived it tell their own stories”.

Watch the recording: