I read this on My Life is Average:
Today, I attended a co-worker’s wedding.
A little boy who looked about 6 was coming down the aisle and he took two steps, stopped, and turned to the crowd (alternating between bride’s side and groom’s side), put his hands up like claws, and roared. Step, step, ROAR, step step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle.
The crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing and was almost crying.
When asked what he was doing, he sniffed and said, “I was being the Ring Bear.” MLIA
And if you have been following my Google Reader Shared Items, someone posted “Like all the stories on here that are 90% not true, this was a story copied from X and Y.”
My response:
Who the eff cares?
Aren’t all stories made up in some way or another?
Even if it’s a real event, it’s just the perception of the storyteller giving the story.
But it may not have happened like that in someone else’s head.
If we liked the story, and it made us smile or laugh, WTF does it really matter if it was true or not?
We read fiction all the time and can evoke strong emotions
(See: The Little Princess by Burnett)… (or Twilight *sigh*)
….so it doesn’t have to be “real” or something that actually happened, to be an interesting event nonetheless.
And if they copied or got inspiration from another story is totally fine for me.
Lots of great writers get inspiration from their idols.
It’s why Charles Caleb Colton said: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I didn’t have to ask them to verify their sources with a video or someone to vouch for what the kid did, to approve of smiling at it.
It made me giggle and that’s it.
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Couldn't agree more. Sometimes when I'm in the mood for a sappy shot of inspiration, I read the Glurge section of Snopes.com (http://snopes.com/glurge/glurge.asp). My ex always got on my case, telling me: "The stories aren't true! Not even a little bit!" and I'd tell him, "Dude, shut up. Having a good cry over here!"
LOL!!
“Having a good cry over here”… That’s me. I need a good sob session.
Here's my problem with it: It's dishonest to try to pass off an old joke as your own original (I've read the story in multiple places before). The point of MLIA is to tell things that actually happened to you that are "average" (which are often humorous). I enjoy original "stories" about real life, but I strongly suspect the person posted it for attention–even if it did really happen to them (extremely unlikely), they know it had been told before, and it certainly wasn't a recent event.
People just take themselves too seriously. Who cares if it was real or not – if it made you giggle or laugh or whatever -it's good enough. Whether its FML or LML or MLIA whatever!
I see where you're coming from, but I would definitely be somewhat disappointed if a story on fmylife, mylifeisaverage and those other kinds of sites wasn't true, since the idea there is to submit real stories, ya know?
That’s true… but in that case, all of those events might have happened from a real event and were just re-told with the same feeling.
So it is true.. ish.
Well said FB!
Thanks for sharing – it made me smile and I don't need an eye witness account. I wish folks would lihgten up sometimes.
S’all I’m saying!
uurghh, people are just annoying sometimes. just cause your bitter doesn't mean everyone around you wants to share in that emotion. even if i hear the same story five times, if its a good story (and that one was) i'm going to appreciate it as such. end of story.
fyi – I LOVE LOVE LOVE A Little Princess, one of my favourite stories ever!!
I cried so much at the end. Like a BABY.
Was so happy BF wasn’t around to ask me why I was crying at fiction 😛
I just want to say that I completely agree with you. Thanks for writing this!
Oh, my!
This had me chocking on my cereal! :))))
You’re right about the story. The only reason you’re telling a story is b/c it somehow touched you in some way and that’s what matters when you’re a storyteller.
.-= Alexandra´s last blog ..When sleep is hard to come by =-.
At least, that’s what I thought.