Print the legend

– Are you not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?

– No Sir. This is The West, Sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

from "The man who shot Liberty Valance" (John Ford)

I love stories, and I love linking stories to whatever is happening in the conversation. This sort of horizontal connection is my way of understanding communication, but also creation. It’s a sideway thinking, additional information that helps to understand, to communicate, or simply enriches the picture.

Problem is that sometimes what I recall and reality don’t match. Problem is as well that some times a slight alteration in what happened makes the story much, much better. Furthermore, sometimes I don´t realize that my recalls are far from reality, or that I made the slight alteration. The core, what is important for the story or the topic, remains. But the rest can change, with me noticing it… or not.

Good news is that I don’t mind anymore. If facts and figures are important, then I search and check, I think being accurate is truly important, each day more. But if they are not, storytelling rules: the story is the key and many times the image to communicate even more. So I don’t care if I’m changing some details, or last time I told it in a different way.

As in the final scene of «The man who shot Liberty Valance«, I tend to print the legend.


And yes, this is sort of a disclaimer…

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