The Perks of a Storyteller Society

It is known in certain circles and by experienced people that good storytelling is a conversationalist's best and most trustworthy weapon. It is a device that bypasses all the other flawed ways of getting your personality across like qualifying yourself directly (I am this, I am that) while simultaneously hiding your unpopular traits behind a veil of mystery. It also has an alchemic nature to it, being able to turn any would-be boring or clinically uninteresting tale into a fantasia. Since we have lived since time immemorial an adventureless run-of-the-mill slice-of-life day-by-day existence it is in a way essential to remold the mundane into the fantastic. There is a meta-phenomenon to take notice though: much as musicians will always try, sometimes to their detriment, to display the peak of their technique and knowledge, so will a storyteller, obviously, choose to tell their best stories, as they perceive them, which will be linked to the most exciting moments in their lives. Now some older people have mastered the slow meditative way of relaying stories of the bygone days in an attractive manner, but, the core of the stories, assuming they're not invention, hinges on factual truth. The implication being that the story they chose to tell is a benchmark of the adventurousness of their life, irrelevant of how well it's told. In my case I can tell stories which aren't the ones I would consider the wildest and save those for when I need someone to get a real flavor of who I am. Conversely the glee I saw in my grandmother as she talked about afternoons planting flowers paints me a picture of the uneventfulness of her life. So,in talks with people, listen out or maybe prod subtly for stories. The very reluctant are socially maladjusted, they're not worth the trouble usually, but everyone else, let them sing and in their story you'll be able to read their business card without them knowing it: their confidence, their experiences, their morals and such. Just take care when it's your turn.