How few of us fit into either of these categories and how many of us fit into both! I think it depends on who is telling our life story and how charitable or how self righteous he or she may be, not to mention a penchant for truth or its opposite.

And are we indeed so perfect? Then there are the stories we tell about those who have wronged us and how dastardly they act with wicked plan in mind to thwart our every happiness! And are they indeed wicked?

There are those who regale us with tales of others, some glowing gold . . . or red. What, pray tell, their motive? We've read the book, heard the tales, told a few ourselves. We've hung on every word - particularly our own - and taken it all in, so very, very seriously.

Ah, but let us reflect just a moment once again on how many pure saints and how many card carrying sinners we've seen with our own eyes, heard with our own ears. The number shrinks.

Let's keep it in mind the next time someone has our ear devoted to their rambling. A good story is a good story, but is but part of a story. Until we've heard the other parts of a story, we've digested but one chapter. And chances are there's a series in the offering.

And do we know whether we are taking in a work of pure fiction or a true story? Much is at stake with what we believe in this life. We need proceed cautiously, even charitably if we will.

What do we believe - Everything? Anything? Nothing? The answer has more to do with us than with either the story, the story teller, or the characters in the story.

Mirror, mirror on the wall . . . .

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.