Herein Lies the Truth

I used to think that truth was the solid core of humanity – part of the backbone of who we are as a species- the safe harbor, the dock we tie our boats to- the calm water in a stormy world. Though some may see love as the core, I think of love as more the accouterment positioned or built on the foundation of truth. Though truth will always exist independent of our perceptions, truth seems to have lost its hold on the world-and we’ve been set adrift in choppy waters.

I remember the days when we all had land lines connected to the wall and we’d receive a very occasional prank phone call- “Is your refrigerator running?” ‘Well, yes indeed I believe it is’-‘Well you better go catch it!’ Or, ‘Is your TV on? How does it fit?” And we would chuckle and then think-oh my goodness who could ever do such a thing- how did they get my number-I wonder if they will ever be caught? That was when we used to actually have to get up and walk our bodies to the phone- and caller ID was a futuristic phenomenon. And though those calls were not necessarily dishonest or ill-meaning, they seemed out of the normal realm of every day - an early form of spam- an intrusion into our Mayberry R.F.D homes.

And now I don’t have to tell anyone that we are bombarded by dishonesty, falsehoods, scams, infiltrators. We are told that we now have to dig deeper to find or verify the truth- fact checkers-as if truth is a small diamond under mounds of volcanic debris. It feels that we’re a lot closer to ‘don’t believe anything you read’ rather than ‘don’t believe everything you read.’ Not a day passes without an inbox full of scams which are not only invasive but also criminal and malicious. And there seem to be great divides and battles fought depending on whose truth you believe. When really isn’t there only one absolute truth?

Where do we go when we let go of truth? Where do we find sure ground? We grew up on adages such as ‘the truth will set you free’ and ‘when in doubt, tell the truth.’ And one that is surely true today from Mark Twain - "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything’ and “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes."

In grade school we heard stories of honest Abe Lincoln walking three miles to return six cents that he had inadvertently overcharged a customer (probably uphill and in a snowstorm). Pinocchio reminding us of the consequences of dishonesty as his nose continued to grow. The Ten Commandments and The Golden Rule. We grew up knowing the importance of being a good, kind, honest person- do we all make mistakes-certainly-but we don’t have to reach too far back to find our core-our solid ground-the values that we grew up on. But what do we see now when we look out into the wider world-and what do our children see?

Would it be too much to put our phone lines back on the wall? To read the paper or watch the TV with a certainty that what you are hearing is the truth? To know that our bank accounts and credit cards and purchases are secure without risk of fraud-or even a world that you didn’t need passwords or multi-factor authentication.

Maybe, just maybe, there has always been an element of deception in the world - since Eve and that darn apple. But really if your faith goes that far back- it was the serpent who led us down this misguided path, the instigator, the tempter the prognosticator of prognosticators -predicting the climate of a world that is and will always be slightly tipped on its axis.