Some people like to tell stories, although most of the time the story that they tell is a mere retelling. Some like to write, stories that derive from their experience of maybe pure imagination. Anyhow, I admire people who can write or tell or write and tell stories wonderfully. My husband for example is a good writer, in a sense that he writes, although I might not fancy all of his writings and most of his stories are all unfinished, oh let me rephrase that, 'are yet to finish', I find him wonderful as a writer because he always manage to put his imagination into words beautifully. He manages to bring people into the realm of his imagination. I see myself as an imaginative person as well, I imagine all sort of things that you people don't want to know, yet I do not have the ability to always talk my imagination out, let alone write them and maybe or sadly the fact is most of the times I am just plain lazy. eheh. Sometimes, my husband talks about the stuff that he wants to write, or the next episodes of his unfinished novel.. he could go on and on like it's all stamped inside his mind, like all the imagination is vividly alive inside his head. For example, when he talks about a place in the story, it sounds like there's already a city or village depending on the story built inside his head with all sort of tiny people (characters in the story) living inside. I wish I could peep into his mind, but I don't know if I could live with the aftershock. haha. Anyway, I pray that one day at least one of his stories will be published.
I also know someone who can tell stories attractively. Yes, I use the word attractive, because when he tells stories, I want to just listen, no matter what it is about. It attracts me, and that person is my brother. He has a talent of telling story in a way that it sounds very interesting. The stories could be so serious like the stories from the time of the prophets or merely a ridiculous made up or a long joke that at the end is not so funny, but I always want to listen to him. He is a charmer in a way. eh, why am I complimenting my brother that much. But yeah, if you are one of those who have a story telling talent, you should be very grateful and make use of your talent wisely because these days, at the era where everyone's attention seems glued to their smart phone, it is very hard to get people to pay attention to you.
All in all, I believe that when it comes to retelling a story, you should make clear of yourself and to your audiences or listeners the source of the story. I am a skeptic person and I have trust issues. Therefore, should anyone bring me stories, I'm always asking 'who told you?' 'where the stories came from?' 'how do you know it's true?' (if the person claims it to be real/factual). It should be habitual to a person who speaks to the public to clarify the authenticity of a story he's telling, or else, he might be telling a lie. If you're not sure about the authenticity, don't talk about it. It is sad these days to hear a significant figure telling lies through stories that's intended to give lessons. For example; I recently heard a a story from an 'ustaz' of a man who went to communicate to his trustworthy dead friend to ask for his money. The man was told to go to two wells, one is in Makkah and the other in Yaman, and call the dead friend name and if answered in the well in Makkah the friend is in heaven but if answered upon calls at the well of Yaman, the friend is in hell. The dead friend turned out to be in the second well, meaning he's in hell although he was kind and trustworthy through out his life. The man had a conversation with his dead friend at the well and he told that no matter how trustworthy he was, he's punished for ignoring the charity to his kindred. I believe the story has a good intention. But but but... you're not suppose to tell a ridiculous lies especially when it relates to the religion. To me, the story scantly sounds logical to a sound mind that one could know the fate of a soul by simple calling his name at a well. I find it ridiculous. Don't you.
Sadly, in this world, not everyone thinks the way you do. Not everyone knows when to be judgmental. Not everyone think through everything they heard and question the validity of the information. Some people take things at face value, some people cannot differentiate fact and fiction.
So people, before you tell, think.
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