I often find myself wishing that I was a talented musician. Or artist, sculptor, dancer, photographer, or quilter. Anything, just not a words person. I know musicians who make great connections across divides, like my friend Gabriel Meyer, who works with music from different cultures and with peers in different continents; like John Genyo Sprague, who seems to play every instrument in creation; there are many others.

They don’t worry about words, polemics, and concepts like right and wrong or right and left; they don’t struggle with the eternal I in sentences or against abstractions. Their truth always sounds more direct because it doesn’t call for words.

What I do have is stories. I have Once upon a time. Folktales, myths, Zen koans, Believe It Or Not, and tales of the Hasidim. So put aside your prejudices for a few minutes, or as we say in Zen Peacemakers, adopt a state of not-knowing, and listen to this story:

Once upon a time a rich man with orange hair decided to run for President. Everyone thought he was crazy. He made it easy for them because he sounded crazy, ignorant, and showed contempt for rules of all kinds. He beat out all the nicer, more knowledgeable people running against him and then won the election against the first woman running for President who was smart, experienced, compassionate, and never talked about grabbing men’s privates.

He served for four years as President, during which time he was eviscerated by liberal media, which still constitutes most of the general media. Running again, he got over 70 million votes and lost the election by a tiny margin. Refusing to accept defeat, he provoked a mini-insurrection and left Washington in disgrace.

Everyone, including most of his own party, thought he was down and out. It didn’t help that he was impeached a second time and faced lawsuits by individuals, state prosecutors, and finally the Justice Department.

Four years later, without his pretty wife at his side, he sweeps his party’s nomination and generates huge audiences at his rallies. He changes his party’s rigid anti-abortion platform to increase his appeal to women and chooses a 39-year-old charismatic senator to run at his side to get younger voters. The courts rule in his favor and he survives an assassination attempt serious enough to wound his ear and persuade his fans that God looks out for him. This week he’s being crowned in Milwaukee.

Tell me: Isn’t this an unbelievable story? Another version of Lazarus coming back from the dead? Put away your feelings about him for just a minute. How many stories like this do you know? Those of us who remember Richard Nixon’s comeback from San Clemente know that even he didn’t have this kind of resurrection, didn’t benefit from divine protection, didn’t seem quite the man of destiny like the Man With the Orange Hair.

You can say: It’s a great story, if only it could be about somebody else. Wrong answer. The way you counter a great story is to come up with an even greater one, more imaginative and exciting.

No, not the one about an 81-year-old admirable public servant who doesn’t know when to step down; that’s a cliché, not a story. Not the one of strategists who always speak on the condition of anonymity to protect themselves and their careers. Not the servile silence of senators and congress people afraid to stand up just as long as theirs is a safe seat (and by the way, where is the Democratic Liz Cheney?). Not any of those.

More important, not the story of WE HATE THE MAN WITH THE ORANGE HAIR! WE’RE AFRAID OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THIS COUNTRY! Not the refrain that people vote for him because THEY’RE STUPID AND IGNORANT. And also, not the story that ends with: NOTHING MATTERS MORE THAN DEFEATING THAT MAN. ONCE HE’S GONE, WE’LL GO BACK TO NORMAL.

That last one is the worst of all. First, there’s nothing interesting about normal. Second, because it’s negative and fear-mongering (remember how many of us said that that’s HIS specialty?).

You counter a great story with one that’s more original, more imaginative, and way more inspiring. Okay, without the assassination attempt.

How about someone like a Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, or ______ (fill in the blank) announcing tomorrow morning that she or he is challenging our current President for the nomination? Kamala could do this, only she’s trapped by her position. Who quotes John Kennedy, in that first press conference, and says it’s time to pass the torch to a new generation. Who looks forward, not back, and evokes a vision far broader and greater than some past personal rivalry.

Who beckons us towards a life worth sacrificing for. Who reminds us that great presidents and Americans lived through far worse messes than the one we live in now. Who’s all for personal rights while bearing witness to the broken social contract of this country. Why do I fear that AI will take away my job as an actor and writer but I didn’t worry when millions lost factory jobs that went overseas? Why can’t we build more housing? Why not require two years of service for high school graduates and ask them to serve communities different from theirs? What culture can we build out of diverse threads that still presents a coherent, moral, and esthetic theme?

Who wants us to have not just an American future but a planetary future. Let the Elon Musks of this world take off to Mars as their escape hatch, the rest of us don’t seek one, we get our strength and conviction from this earth and acknowledge all we owe it.

Who doesn’t get confused by the noise for the signal, who appreciates the story of the Man With the Orange Hair because it is an extraordinary story, and therefore investigates its basic themes. What role is MWOH playing? What’s being revealed here that I didn’t see previously? What does it say about our failures and successes? What does it say about me?

Who challenges us to practice a life of equality, truth, and partnership while knowing that we will fail at it again and again, but that’s the nature of any beast that demands the best from us so guilt, breast-beating, and shame have no part to play here.

Here is our story: We have all the ingredients for a fabulous meal and we’re ready to cook, serve, say grace, eat, and appreciate, all together. It’s not about the Man with the Orange Hair as if he’s the consummate devil, it’s way bigger than that, and, like all big stories, takes the long view and several generations. But we start now at a riotous, chaotic, and rousing Democratic Convention.

The person telling the story needs to know it in her or his bones, not have to read it from a Teleprompter,. This country loves stories of destiny, loves to discover it can go to the moon and elect a Barack Obama for president. Loves to discover that the impossible is possible .