Our Backward Looking Story therefore cannot, and must not, be perceived to be Truthful in the sense of articulating What Actually Happened.
No, our Backward Looking Story can only be one of Patterns, Heroes, and Highlights.
We must somehow shine a spotlight on the great men and women of the epic Story, and what they did that made them rise up and stand out across the ages.
We must somehow shine a spotlight on the epic failures and the epic successes, and see what underlying Patterns of Action they illuminate for us.
We must somehow see through the heroes and highlights, to discern what the Stories are trying to tell us.
The Purpose of our Backward Looking Story is to gather up, out of the endless stream of lives and moments that have existed, those that mattered, because they illuminated Wisdom and Truth, or its Antithesis.
There is some Fire that burns within the being of those creatures great enough to rise above the droning waves of history, and speak the words and do the deeds that overcome the madness of their time, and forge something of lasting worth.
Perhaps if we draw near enough to them, we can catch a bit of that Fire.