story arcs

Part of the reason I think a lot of people say - or used to say - that they "started in the mailroom" is because it gives their "story" an "arc."

I started there.

Now I'm here.

(farmer who inherited 500 acres of land) -

"I worked hard for everything I have."

(rancher who inherited 1000 acres of land) -

"I worked my way up."

(rancher who inherited 2,000 acres of land) -

"I started in the mailroom."

---------------------- Something else I've heard successful people say is, that they had a teacher in school who told them they would "never amount to anything" or some variation on that, like - "You are not good enough to be a writer" - or actor, etc.

That sounds crazy, to me.  Would any teacher ever say such a thing??  It seems implausible....

But there again, like the Mailroom Story, it gives the person's story an arc.  

Things were bad; now they're good.

Someone tried to discourage me; they were WRONG!

I started at the bottom; now I'm at the top.

Do we believe all this?

(Thinking about a story arc - something the character Christopher Moltisanti worries about in The Sopranos - makes me think of another scene in that show, where the character Salvatore Bonpensiero [played by actor Vincent Pastore] says jovially, "Ya know who had an arc?  Noah!")

Vincent Pastore (in the middle photo)

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