Stories absolutely matter. I'm just not always sure our motivations for telling ourselves these particular stories are always the same motivations some people seem to want to assign us. For example, like jihad vs. golden path, for me, the flip-side of "chosen jerk" is "changeling"--and is that a story you really want to deprive people who truly do need to tell themselves that their difference is a sword and a shield rather than a wound--that the family which rejects them isn't "really" theirs, and that people who'll respect and embrace them for who they are actually do exist out there somewhere, waiting to be found--of?

Yeah, we lie to ourselves, like we lie to others, but sometimes we also tell the truth in advance. Stories help with that, too.