Truth

Something that Elvis Presley said I like (was that him I saw at our shopping centre?).  “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.”
In our day and age, it is seen as relative, but to me something is either true or it is a lie.  How I feel about it does not change it in any way.
I was looking at different things people have said and some I think yeah that seems right, and other stuff I cannot agree with.  Still other stuff I try to avoid hurting my brain thinking about it.  A guy called Arthur Schopenhauer who I have never heard of said, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”  Often it seems the third stage is seen as inconvenient.
Something I grapple with these days is the belief that “everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”  That to me just does not seem to hold true.  The media, in the chasing of a story, seems to imply guilt though unproven.  Unfortunately, as they say, “some mud sticks.”  Even if someone proves their innocence life is never the same again.  As was sung decades ago in The Boxer, “All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”  Trouble is, what is disregarded may be the key.
In Townsville I found some mail on the road.  I took it to the home it belonged.  The story circulated that Kuskie was stealing mail.  I was not, but that did not matter to those propagating the story.  The lie made for much more gossip interest.  Often believing the lie is easier and requires less effort.  Truth often needs to be sought.  I need to find out for myself.
When I was in charge of an organization, I needed to find out things for myself.  It did not matter how reliable or trustworthy the person was who told me something.  I was only secure if I found out something for myself.  Only then could I be confident in my claims.
It is important to me that what I hold to is right and that I remain open to correction.  I can so easily hear what I want to hear and disregard something that changes everything.
In Hitler’s time people followed the regime like sheep.  China’s media is feeding the people what they want to hear.  So is Russia’s.  So is ours.  In Hitlers time the people went like sheep to the slaughter, and I cannot see how today will be different.
As is said, it is only in knowing the truth I am free.  The truth may be inconvenient, and it may put me in opposition to those in power.  But I would rather stand on truth than believe and act on a lie only to find out later I was duped.
Even if an authority is acting on a lie and I need to obey, I am ok if I am free in myself.  I remember in the movie Gallipoli the decision to go over the top which lead to the slaughter of many was based on a report that “our flag has been seen in the enemy trenches.”  It had not.  It was a lie.  Many acted on it and died.  Believing a lie can be really costly.