Lore

Written words. Which ones last? The wisest, most notable ones? Who's to make that choice, that distinction? So which ones do last? Those that have been shouted out the loudest for the longest time? Wrong or right, from the mouths of megalomaniacal masters of the universe or salt of the earth, they've passed The Test: social proof. Do they last? Words that by some quirk of fate weren't destroyed in a war or natural disaster, a pyre or purge, ethnic or cultural?

Human history is a story written in the hindsight tense. Arbitrary. Unfair. Crap-shooting. Often apologetic, usually not. Countless words go unrecorded, unheard. There is no preserving or restoring what's already gone. But not all is lost. Myths and fairytales are a lingua franca. They have a common ancestor somewhere in history. We are cousins, you and I. Distant, perhaps, but cousins all the same. Many fables and morals are cousins, as well. We migrated and the stories migrated with us. We changed with the times, so did the stories. But something in them, in us, stays. The same questions will always be asked. Who? What? Where? Why?

Coming into a story, even midstory, you're instantly pulled into the story. Admit it. You feel the need to find the answer to those whos, whats, wheres and whys and stick around until The End. Even if it's not your usual fare. Even though you have better things to do. Even when you know it won't be all that memorable. But does that stop you from watching or reading? Nooo. Because you've got to know.

This in-built inquisitiveness of ours has survived war, famine, floods, societal and cultural upheavals. Stories? Weave them into the collective unconscious and they do the same. What if? What next? Where will it all end? Victory and defeat, allegiance and disobedience, candor and betrayal, valor and cowardice, fear and foolhardiness, love and indifference, truths and lies, actions, reactions, consequences... The stuff that humans and the very best stories are made of.