Judging by the personal stories told by Christine Ristaino, silence extends our suffering and speech helps us start to heal:

• We all have a story to tell, and if it involves pain, we need to tell that story. Each time we tell it, the event loses power and we gain strength – the strength to go on, the strength to be ourselves.

And we all have a role to play, too, when important personal stories are told, says Ristaino:

• The next time you talk with somebody who has a story to tell – about violence, oppression, tragedy, illness, death or pain – listen to her as though listening was the only thing in the world you had to do that day. Look into that person's eyes and make her feel her story is worth telling. Tell her she is brave and that you care about her.

Ristaino's essay is one of the fruits of the Op-Ed Project, which seeks to get a wider range of voices into our media--especially but not only women's voices.