Everyone has a Story

 

Everyone has a story. Just ask. They’ll gladly tell you.

Sometimes the problem with any tale is in the perspective. We live life in the first person. The internal thoughts and emotions of our own private tale dictates the drama as it unfolds in our everyday life. We see things from our point of view and it is unvaryingly the correct way to view events. We are always right in our own minds—the other guy cut me off in traffic, the sales clerk got my order wrong, the kids were ignoring me again, my wife didn’t remember to pay the water bill.

The perspective of the life is singular and unwavering. We are the hero of our own story. We might do wrong here and there, but we make excuses in our own internal narration. We justify every affront because we know in our heart it was a mistake or we are sorry or we can’t control it.

What if life was in the third person? How would some omniscient narrator tell your tale? 

Edward Newton left home today with a lot on his mind, forgetting his turn signal as he cut off the tan sedan in the Publix parking lot. He stopped for breakfast at the Dunkin drive-thru for a dark roast with heavy cream and ordered a latte without thinking. He got his latte and then complained to the manager that his order was wrong. Edward arrived home after a long day and told the kids to pick up their room while he checked emails and skimmed social media. Ten minutes later, he looked up from his phone and started yelling at the kids because their rooms were still a mess. One email was about the water bill being late, and Edward grumbled under his breath even though his wife had asked him to remind her a week ago.

Third person or first person? How different is your life if someone else was telling your tale?