The original meaning of the phrase “talk is cheap” is to suggest that just saying something is less effective or believable than taking action.   But sometimes talking or discourse as Mezirow calls it is actually what leads to action.

You all know that old “what would you wish for if you were given three wishes” scenario.   If the genie appears from the bottle, what do you ask for?  I am always torn between the most life affirming, big ticket items (world peace, for example) and the most practical (someone to clean my house).   Although transformative learning is easier to achieve than world peace, it is not a daily occurrence.

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” is a warning the Dorothy chooses to ignore as Toto tugs on the cloth and reveals the less than wizardly Wizard of Oz.  But had Dorothy heeded the advice and left without learning who was the operating the magical Oz head, she would have been like many of us.

I come from a long line of storytellers.  My Memphis-born grandma could at age 80 still hold a room of small children (and adults) in a spell.  One afternoon as a young mother, she tucked three small children in for nap, put on her trainers and walked three blocks in the sweltering heat to a corner grocery.