This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Tell your own story - you're the author

There's a man sitting by himself in a coffee shop on sunset blvd. It's 3PM and he's reading a newspaper back to front with his left hand shuffling the pages between his fingers. His glasses are thick black frames slightly too big for his face and his red brown scruff makes him look older than he is.

His name's Jason and he's white knuckling a full ceramic coffee cup in his right hand. He looks side to side like he's waiting for someone he doesn't want to meet. 

Jason just robbed a bank less than five miles away, killed two people and wounded six. His partner Josh was one of the fatalities. They'd been best friends since grade school and before leaving the bank Jason put a single hollow point slug in the back of Josh's skull. Now, 30 years old sitting at a two top table, while $100,000 in cash sits between his feet in a weathered leather bag. There's four plasma TVs in the bar where he's ordering food. Every station flashes his image and scenes from the robbery. Everyone in the bar sees it but him and everyone sees him.

He stands to leave and reaches inside his black leather jacket for his wallet, bill in hand. A .357 Magnum revolver emerges instead. Everyone in the room hits the floor and Jason casually picks up his bag, drops a handful of $100 bills on the table and walks towards the door. Just before he exits, the bank robber unzips his money bag, reveals the contents and throws it into the air, cash exploding like fireworks behind him as he exits. 
 
This is all made up, except for the fact that I'm looking at a man in a coffee shop whose wearing a black leather jacket, looking nervous. His name may be Jason but it's probably not. That's just part of the story I told, the tape I played in my head. I tell myself a lot of stories. Some are real and some are not, but I like to tell stories, so I figure...why not tell myself funny ones? Why not tell myself stories to courage and hope and compassion? Why not make it an adventure?

Why don't you?

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