When did telling the truth become a revolutionary act? Perhaps its time to reclaim clear direct honesty as the healthy core of society. It IS time to become a revolutionary before we forget what truth looks, feels, sounds, smells and tastes like. Change is the choice to make. It's inevitable and certainly not impossible.
3 comments:
The truth, it seems, is not as fashionable as it once was. Part of the problem, I'm afraid, is that we (socially speaking) have become lazy. The truth or demand thereof is too inconvenient - we let the false stand knowing that something stinks, but are not motivated enough to do anything about it. Demanding the truth is too much work - far easier it is to just swallow the BS.
You have touched on my thesis - I have been giving the modern manifestations of truth much thought of late.
Mike
In some ways I think there are various kinds of truth.
There is social truth,where b***s*** comes in, bending what social "laws" (if there are such things) would see as truth, to suit oneself. Many would see the UK bankers' bonuses are wrong, whereas the Banking industry would see them as well-earned rewards for exceedinglyu stressful work. It all depends where you are coming from.
Then there is moral truth. Various cultures genuinely have their own "truth" which can and does vary from place to place. Where the honour of a family's name is higher than the life of a daughter, then so be it.
We might find that abhorrent, but that doesn't make it any less true for that culture.
Again, telling what we have seen as 'truth' can be a bit like your photograph. (Is that a scarf? it is very unusual) What we see can depend on how we look at it. Our own beliefs and hang-ups will colour what we see. It is a well-attested fact that 4 people can see an accident and give four different accounts. Each is 'true' for that person.
What we need, of course, is a independent judge. Which we have, in God. Even so, what some take as unwavering Biblical truth is seen by others, eqwually moral and upstanding, as culturally skewed, or interpreted.
But I do agree, there is much too much feeling (never by ourselves, of course) that people will act accordinmgly to how they feel at the time, whether their basic desires are clamouring to be fed, ignoring any hint of "should not".
I don't know what the answer is. I think society has got a lot of things wrong, although some people have got things right.
But who am I to say who is right or wrong? And is my 'right' your 'right'?
Mike...how interesting! I was going to use the term apathy in this post. It's what I was thinking. We've grown far too lazy allowing the political machines to spin and sputter along without any outrage or demands from us. We have become a society of bleating sleepy sheep. Our mantra seems to be ..... "why bother?" Change always expends more energy.
I really look forward to reading more from you on this topic. I know it's one that has been stirring inside you for a while now. GOOD!!!!!!!
Gilly.... I think you should be a major in Philosophy! I love your thoughts here.......!! The photo is a close up shot of New Brunswick's provincial flag. I took it last fall on a walk one day. I loved the blue sky in the background.
Truth is a nebulous entity isn't it, because we can only perceive things through our own tarnished lens. In order to gain a broader view and perspective, we have to be open to looking at life/events/situations/people outside of ourselves. Maybe the key is to be more humble in our approach to life. We as a society and as indiviuduals wrap ourselves in ego driven questions like.... "what's in it for me...?" Or "How can I benefit from this?" rather than looking at the collective majority's needs.
So much of our political policies, legislation, rules and approach to structuring our society is based on trying to please a minority of vocal people rather than the bulk of the population. We keep moving more and more towards appeasing the whiniest, loudest folks (who seem to have the energy) who use guilt and shame and fear as tactics to get what they want. Political correctness and "accomodating" these types has PUSHED the majority into the margins. Consequently, truth gets distorted. AND government gets way too involved with their inane rules, laws and postering. Truth gets lost, lost, lost in the shuffling of trying to deal with the needs of the minority.
Having said that....... I believe EVERYONE is equal under the eyes of God. So, perhaps we need to return to the roots of our learning and take time to recognize how far we have strayed.
I believe nothing will change unless we begin demanding more, and getting involved more as revolutionaries of change. It's time.
Post a Comment