*Since I was on vacation this month, I searched the archives for an old article to share. This is from August of 2015.
Integrity, honor, ethics, trust. It seems that there has been quite a bit of talk about these subjects lately. Of course the "deflate-gate" saga surrounding Tom Brady and the New England Patriots heated up the news and airwaves again recently as the appeal of his suspension was denied. There has been discussion about the "integrity of the game” and who is telling the truth. Did someone cheat? Who was involved? Is someone lying? What really happened anyway? I doubt we will ever know the complete truth of this situation. Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that with each passing day that the truth becomes less important in our world. Has truth become relative? We talk about perception and fancy buzzwords like “optics”. Although it may not seem fair we realize at some point that appearance does in fact matter. Perhaps an individual has acted correctly, but it may appear as though they haven’t, and unfortunately, that may be all that matters. For many with strong political views, it would seem that the truth only matters if it fits your side of the argument. Or perhaps the "truth" is sometimes even manufactured to fit the argument on occasion. I recall an episode of the TV series Seinfeld from years ago when the character George Costanza stated, “it’s not a lie, if you believe it.”
I still maintain hope that the truth does matter, even when it hurts, and even when it means we might be wrong. “I was wrong”, may be the three hardest words to string together in the English language. But if we are completely honest with ourselves, we would all admit that we have in fact made mistakes and been wrong before. I’m also sure that while we’re likely not proud of it, we have all lied too. When we are in the wrong our first reaction may often be to deny it, justify it, or make an excuse. Perhaps we should train ourselves first to own it.
While it is more "probable than not" that we will never know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about many things, I would hope that our community and society would continue to seek the truth. The truth is liberating. The truth should matter. Has it not been said, “the truth will set you free”?
Comments