This is a story told by Professor Brian Sturm. I just had to share it. 🙂
It’s a Jewish story about two beautiful,beautiful women. And these two women, once, long, long ago, lived in a small house at the end of a village. The two women were exceedingly beautiful. One day they were having a slight discussion and the discussion became an argument about who was the most beautiful and who would be the most accepted by the villagers. It began to get really heated and so finally they decided to have a contest. And the contest was that they would both, one at the time, walk through the village. And then they would see who had the most friends. And so they agreed. Truth went first. Truth walked out, and as she went down the central village street, the people, who were out on their lawns, began to ease on back into their houses. Some of them, who were up in the windows, closed the shutters. And by the time Truth had gotten to the end of the village, there were very few people left outside. So she thought to herself: “I’m going to lose this contest! What can I do to make myself even more attractive?” She thought: “There’s really only one thing left to do.” So she disrobed. She took of her clothes and she stood there completely naked. Then she walked back through the village, thinking that now, people would flock from their houses to see her. But, indeed, it was the opposite. All of the remaining people went back into their houses and they closed their windows. And she eventually ended up walking back all the way by herself.Well, she got back and she met her companion and her companion was Story. And Story said: “Well, how did it go?” Truth said: “I can’t believe it. There was no one there!” And Story said: “One moment, let me try.” So Story left and she walked along. And as she walked through the village, all the people began to come out of their houses. The windows opened and they came down and into the streets and they began to talk and mingle and talk amongst themselves. It was a wonderful gathering. She walked all the way to the end, people streaming behind her. She turned around and walked back and the entire village gathered in the center as she walked through.Well, she got back and Truth was quite humble and she said: “I’m sorry, I’ve lost the contest and I realize now that Story is more powerful than Truth.” Story walked up to her and she said: “It’s not that Story is more powerful! It’s just that nobody likes the truth. Especially they don’t like the naked truth! If what you need is to get across your point,what you need is the mental of Story.” So Story took her beautiful, multicolored cloak and draped around the shoulders of Truth. And that time, when Truth went back into the village, the people came out because now they could hear what she had to say.