"For every mortal in search of who and why he was born there is a conspiracy of witnesses who may not have been there at all.  A bit of the teller's dream of himself goes into every answer. There are always circumstances which are indiscernible, and the truth is in their shadow." 
Dorothy Salisbury Davis

"There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently."
Robert Evans

A BIT OF the tellers tale goes into each story. When we are telling stories we can’t help but put ourselves into it somewhere in one way or another. Whether it is as the cursed prince or princess or the one who comes to save the one who is cursed, or whether we are the witch who does the cursing, or the poor king and his wife who lose their children to the witch’s enchantment. Occasionally, we end up being the sentient animal – the wronged dragon or the sloth that comes to the rescue but is despised because it’s a sloth even though it’s saved everyone. In the end, we are always the hero of our own tale.

Here is an example:

Being totally irresponsible and childlike, I took his hand, ran out onto the new pavement where we stuffed tree and grass seeds into all the cracks.  Someday maybe a few of the seeds would start to grow, cracking the cement and giving new life to the earth. 

Rotten delinquents! They will ruin our walls and roads.

It is our story to tell and, in the end, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. We are the hero of our own story. We are the ones who have to save ourselves. We are the ones who in the end have to save the world or so we think. We are the ones who have to save our loved ones. We are the ones who have to defeat the embarrassment and uncomfortable or the dark evil of misconceptions and misinterpretations of our lives when we allow other people to tell our story. 

Are you telling your story or allowing others to tell it for you?