People often only view a single story about a person or group. Digging deeper into the person may show a different story. The person may have a richer experience that you can’t see with only one account. In this case, it is not about money.

The Ted Talk novelist Chimamanda Adichie begins with a story about her childhood where she lives with her parents and a middle-class family in Nigeria with servants. She continues saying that her mother always said that the family was poor and would send food home with them. One day they had to visit their servants’ home, and Chimanmanada was surprised by a beautiful woven basket. At that time, she saw that the family, which she thought was only poor, had another story.

During the mid-1990s, I was part of an organization called Share, which was a food co-op. They would buy in large quantities at a lower cost and bundle food together that anyone could purchase. The contribution that I provided was delivery to the homes of shut-ins. The one story I had was that the shut-ins were poor, miserable, and just waiting in their home for food. However, each of the people I delivered to had a story. One had a collection of beautiful dolls she proudly shared with me, and another had traveled all over the world with the stories accompanying travel. I felt ashamed that I had only considered them a shut-in with a miserable life.

The conclusion is that we really don’t understand someone with only a single story. It is critical to reach deeper and discover the other stories; only then will a true story be told.