Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder what exactly the truth is. Like, is truth set in stone? Is something true for everyone? Or is truth something that can be flexible, changing depending on what perspective you’re looking at it from? Lies can be easily detected, they tend to stand out, especially when the liar kinda sucks at it. But then, with truth, it’s a different ballgame entirely.
You look at something in one way, and then when you consider it some other way or look at it through a different lens, you realize that you can understand the other truth. I guess one of the biggest discoveries that comes with maturity is realizing that two truths can coexist. It’s the realization that someone can be your friend and still have totally different beliefs from you. That’s how it is.
I think in the end, what matters is not really the truth, but instead, the truth you choose to believe and how you act on it. Because as long as you believe something, you’ll give yourself reasons to act on it, and once you do that, you’re basically convincing your conscience that you’re doing the right thing. Truths can be twisted and bent so that we only see what we want to see, not what is really before us. And when our stunted truths give us what we want, we act on it. Basically, giving ourselves justifiable reasons to do what we’ve always wanted to do. But if it all blows up in our face, we don’t have to take the blame. Just blame the truth.
Imagine a married couple, they’re both working, but the man has longer hours, and most of the time, he spends days away from home due to work. So, the wife is mostly always with the kids, and coupled with her job, it’s always stressful for her. When the husband returns from his trips, he doesn’t help much in the house, but expects to get laid at night. Wife is too stressed from work and kids, she just wants to sleep to prepare for the next day, and she refuses his advances.
This goes on for a long time. And one day, she finds out that he’s cheating on her, and she retaliates by cheating on him as well. Things only get worse from then on until eventually, the marriage ends. When the man is asked what happened, he says he cheated because his wife denied him sex, forcing him to look for it outside. And when the wife is asked, she says how could she have sex when she was always stressed from work and taking care of the kids, and the man does nothing to help her out at all. And then, she cheated because he cheated first.
This post is not to support or condemn any member of the couple, but to show you how two truths can coexist. Because both man and wife are saying the truths as it benefits them, and justifies the actions that they took. If the man wanted his wife to be more receptive to his advances, helping out in the house would have been sound advice. And the wife could have simply ended the marriage when she first found out about his affair.
But in the end, people are just people doing people things. They’re both sticking to the truth that works best for them. And when they tell the stories to their friends and loved ones, they’ll tell their specific truths. And that’s how sides are formed.
This is what we see play out today. It’s in the media, it’s in politics, it’s in our government. They tell us the truth, but it’s the selective truth. They tell it in a way that would serve their purpose and sway the masses in a way that would give them the kind of results that they want. So, in the end, I guess that no truth is set in stone. It all depends on what your conscience allows.
Of course, I could be seriously wrong, I’m just thinking out loud here, so I’d love to know your thoughts on this.
