Life is about stories. We tell them during the quiet times to fill up the silence. We tell them when we are marketing our services to explain how we operate.
But the thing about stories based on real life is that they don’t develop meaning until after the fact. It’s only through hindsight that we are able to assign morals and lessons to the actions and events. That hindsight is a funny thing because any two people will have their own story that comes out of an event.
Stories have no power on their own. Only through our own interpretations do they gain power and influence. But it is precisely that influence that leads us to use stories so regularly. It is why we so highly prize good storytellers. Those that can assign meaning that appeals to us are rare and special.