Why Footnotes to Stories?

Hello and welcome to footnotes2stories.com.

Frederick Buechner’s book Secrets in the Dark inspired the title of this website back in 2009. [1]

“So in the long run, the stories all overlap and mingle like searchlights in the dark . . . And my story and your story are all part of each other too because . . . we are at least a footnote at the bottom of each other’s stories.” 

Reading nourishes curiosity. But I cannot read everything I’d like to, and neither can you.

Here at footnotes2stories, story footnotes provide opportunities that can stimulate your curiosity and lead you to read, think, and consider your own story.

You don’t just have a story. You live a story.

Everybody has a story.

Everybody is a story.

And, your story matters.

Footnotes remind readers there’s always more to the story.

I used to think that things just happen. But now I believe that things happen (even bad things) partly to differentiate our stories, the way nature separates flowers and trees and creatures––each with their own beauty, significance, and purpose. Even bad experiences have purpose as individual’s different responses reveal truths and principles about life, reminders of all you and I have in common as human beings.

Footnotes act as shortcuts.

Every story, whether long or short, fits as a footnote to larger stories. The best footnotes pique interest. Footnotes can lead to primary sources. And who knows where a trail of breadcrumbs can lead the curious reader who follows a story’s footnote?

Shortcuts can save time. Sometimes, shortcuts lead to something interesting that you or I didn’t expect to find. Your own curiosity can lead to further discovery.

Footnotes point to another source.

Footnotes serve as explanatory notes with critical comments.

While the opinions, explanations, and comments here are my own, I credit sources––sources that support ideas and nourish thinking.

While sources vary, I direct attention to stories in the Bible, in books, movies, and contemporary culture. And I quote people I respect and repeat quotes that stand on their own two feet.

Footnotes compress experiences.

Stories help us remember.

Characters in stories help us learn.

You and I are wired to respond to stories. Stories take readers beyond the limitations of time and GPS location so that other people’s life experiences––their stories––serve as one of the easiest ways to learn how to live your best life.

At Footnotes2Stories, you will read stories that offer you the opportunity to think about your life, as you live it. Before it’s too late.

[1] On January 1, 2009, I began a blog on the blogpost site: footnotes2stories.blogspot.com. Since April 15, 2015, when I created this website domain, my aim has been to help readers think about their own lives in the context of story, because everybody has a story. Everybody is a story.