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True, everyone does have a story and, to that person and to those who care about him or her, it matters. Even strangers can learn from it, and we do well to pay attention because it might be that a stranger's story teaches us how to cope with difficult aspects of our own.

No one story should be considered more important than another or spoken and spread more prevalently than another. Everyone has a story, and every story matters.

Yes, we all have our own different stories and experiences. None of those are less than the others. All stories are great no matter what and these stories give out great lessons that we can carry all throughout.

While I know what I prefer(which is dogs,by the way),I'd like to know other people's thoughts on this topic and the reasons for their preferences.For me dogs are the best,because,for instance,if I leave the house for five minutes and I come back they are just ecstatic,jumping all over me as if I'd been away all day.They are loyal and very grateful and loving.I can't say that I have seen these attributes in cats...Sure,they can be loving too,but in a weird way,I guess...You never know when they are going to snap and mess you up.

Stories are meant to be told. But are all stories also meant to be heard? I will be very careful about listening to or retelling stories that perpetuate lies, encourage oppression or glorify inequality. It is virtually impossible for everyone to take heed of everyone else's want to say. It is hard to achieve even just at the dinner table. The press, book publishers, politicians and other mass communicators somehow curate the stories worth sharing and caring about. However that role has been upended by the social media. Suddenly anyone who can type and click is given a direct line to the world at large to pour themselves out. That democratisation of the storytelling channel is well and good in the sense that now not a single story is left untold. But that same power can be, has been and will continue to be used to manipulate listeners into believing stories that are designed to deceive.

I couldn't agree with you more. Everybody is created equal and everybody has their own side to their story. Everybody is special in their own way and I do believe that everybody should be allowed to voice their opinion or their concern. Everybody should be heard.

I developed allergies as I got older, but mine don't interfere with my daily routine. Sad to say, though, almost everyone I know suffers from one allergy or another, and I have a couple of friends who seem to be sensitive to almost everything. This wasn't the case decades ago, so I wonder if the stress of living in these difficult times might be the cause. Our natural immune systems just don't seem to be working as well as they did awhile back.

When I was 20, I thought (from the safety of my youthful ivory tower) that people should just grow old gracefully. After a couple of decades, I began to notice a few things in the mirror that I'd never seen before, and wondered, "Am I getting old?" Now, as time marches relentlessly on, I find myself watching commercials for wrinkle-removing products with a bit more interest. Yet, I have come to appreciate that those lines represent the experience that comes with age and, although I do nourish my skin a little differently now, I think that my 20-year-old self wasn't completely off-base. There's something to be said about facing the inevitable with a certain amount of grudging grace.