TELLING THE TRUTH MATTERS

                     

 

 

One of the deep crying needs of the year 2020 is to tell the truth.

 

All human beings can only function when people tell the truth. Try to imagine what life would be like if your cancer doctor did not tell you the truth? What happens if the mechanic in your local garage did not tell you the truth? 

 

Life in our families, in our schools and society would collapse if we did not tell the truth. 

 

But we live in a season where society has become so divided from one another (polarized) that it is no longer relevant to even to tell the truth. It is all about winning! ‘My side is suffering and neglected and we want to win. The truth and the facts are irrelevant.’

 

The past four years have made brought the pain of not telling the truth to the surface. With the election of Donald Trump in the USA we are shocked that so many people do not even flinch a muscle when he lies. We are out to defeat the other side; the truth be damned! 

 

When the people at the grassroots are not demanding that they truth be told, we must ask where are we headed as a society? Are we sliding into a society where it is winner take all? Will the powerful dominate?

 

Will we just take for granted that whatever we cannot accept we splash with ‘fake news’ and consign it to the dustbin of irrelevancy?

 

Reflect on the importance of telling the truth. What if the person who does your income tax does not tell you the truth about your yearly income? What if your family doctor denies the prognosis that he or she told you on your last visit? What if you doubt the unpleasant details your relatives tell you about the family? Where do you go when people do not tell you the truth?

 

The truth is not always easy to accept. There are many skeletons in everyone’s family history. The history of our Canadian society remembers that there were many injustices inflicted on our First Nations peoples, the head tax on Chinese workers and on women in society. The truth of our history often makes us weep in sorrow at the evil and harm that was done to others.

 

When you try to live with the truth be prepared to have the undertow of your bad history flow to the surface and create a storm of problems. The truth is not always pleasant or welcomed!

 

In this season when our fellow citizens can ignore the lies that our political leaders throw out to the media and the entire citizenship, we need all the more to insist on telling the truth. 

 

As individuals we have strong power. We demand of ourselves that we always tell the truth and we rightfully demand of our leaders that they speak the truth. Truth telling is not an option but like breathing, we cannot get through the day without doing a lot of it!