The first story I chose was ‘”Try to be Happy.”: A Father Shares his Wisdom’. The story discusses the wisdom a father has passed on to his daughter through the years. The main speaker, Tchin, grew up as an outcast because of his indigenous background and talks about his challenging experiences as a child due to prejudices and discrimination in a town that was only white and black. Not learning to read or write until he was an adult, he often also was judged for this lack of education and bullied due to these differences. Despite the challenges Tchin faced growing up, he raised a beautiful family and worked hard to support them. His unconventional artistic career, though risky, was fully supported by his wife and children. He goes on to explain how familial roles are changing and how his wife was often deemed as the “breadwinner” as her job provided the steadier income towards supporting the family. He believes breaking traditional barriers in regard to what each role a person in a family should hold is important, and that ultimately trying to be happy is what life is truly all about.
The second story I picked was “I Just Hugged the Man that Murdered my Son”. This story was shocking and almost unbelievable and shows just how much kindness and forgiveness humans are able to show, even in impossible situations. The story interviews both Mary Johnson-Roy, and the man that killed her son, Laramiun Byrd. 12 years after she lost her son to gun violence after being engaged in a fight with Byrd, Johnson-Roy went to the prison where he was held and not only talked to him, but also forgave him. Forgiving someone that has caused the most painful event in one’s life is remarkable, and something that very few people would ever even consider. Not only this, but through the years Mary Johnson-Roy became a sort of maternal figure for Byrd, and took him in as her own son. The podcast was updated again in 2023, after Mary was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. In the update, Laramiun reflects on how thankful he is for Mary and the transformative impact she has had on his life.
Both stories though very different, show how important family is, and what family means in all senses of the word. In both narratives we learn that family can be very unconventional and that every family looks different, whether it be from each family members role, or the people one considers to be family. Despite these differences, family is a beautiful thing that every individual should get to experience regardless of how it may look for them.