1. What is the point of stories?
Why bother telling? Why bother listening? Why not just stick with the facts?

2. Do all stories have value?
…or do they need to have certain qualities to be worth something? Do they have to be true? Do they have to be about BIG topics like war, racism, philosophy, or money? Do they have to be about well-known people, or people similar to you?

3.  With the person next to you:
Decide with of the following assumptions you most agree with, and come up with three reasons to support your decision.
1. Stories have no value beyond entertaining (or boring) us. What really matters for understanding is the facts.
2. Stories are an important part of understanding the bigger picture of anything, and every story has some value.

4. Facts:
People killed in the 9/11 attacks: 3,137 Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343 Number of NYPD officers killed: 23 Number of Port Authority police officers killed: 37 Number of WTC companies that lost employees: 60 Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402 Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614 Number of employees lost at the Cantor Fitzgerald Global Financial Firm: 658, out of 960 total. How do you feel after reading these numbers? Write this down.

5. Stories:
Always a family She was the one John and Joe How do you feel after listening to, and watching, these stories? Compare this to how you felt after reading the facts. Add anything else that comes to mind.

6. Your turn:
Take a moment to reflect, and think of an event in your past that was deeply affecting for you. A great joy? A disappointment? A heartbreak? A discovery? A triumph? In a few sentences, describe this event in facts – make an “official,” factual version. In a short paragraph, tell this event as a story – how it really happened to you.