News Media, Experts, Politicians, Conspiracy Theorists, Scientists, Vigilantly Reporters, Religious Leaders, Hollywood, and that funny married couple with the YouTube channel, are all telling their version of the truth. Right now, all we see are grids, graphs, charts, figures, reasoning, and insider credibility to “help” us choose our “side” and “understand” our “reality.”
So, who is right?
The key to finding the truth in this reality, amid all the layers of lies, is to not seek truth at all. All of these contradictory storytellers are right. They are right because they are right inside their own world view. The graph or chart just verifies their version of a right that they were already looking for. You’re not lying if you believe what you found based on what you believe… right? We are wasting our precious time always looking for the truth. It is in our truth that matters for our time and can even save our lives.
My fourth-grade teacher once called me “slow” in the middle of class. It was in reference to how long I took finishing a cursive writing assignment. I hated writing then, especially cursive. I was a good student who did my best to be timely, accurate, and hopefully invisible to the teacher. But my fingers always got in the way of my pencil and my thoughts. I felt my face as it got hot with embarrassment, not only with the insult, but also with being called out in class for something I just didn’t do well: write. I blinked my tears back inside my eyes all day until I was home.
At home my mother was right there with me and my pain: how dare someone insult her child in front of the class? But it was my father’s reaction that stuck with me. He laughed! “But you are slow.” Hmm, he certainly had a point there. I was slow. I was the youngest and smallest, and the last to finish schoolwork, meals, at-bats, walks, chores, and godforsaken putt putt rounds. “Come on, Melanie, hurry up” would’ve been the phrase to describe my life up to that point. So, why was I mad? I was not mad because it wasn’t true, I was mad because it was. Because it was told to me as if it was wrong to be that way. I was mad because it was supposed to hurt my feelings and make me change.
It didn’t make me change though. I never use cursive unless I sign my name. And yes, I still take a long time and I think of my fourth-grade teacher every time and smile. I smile because she spoke the truth, and it still didn’t matter. I am slow, but it is up to me whether or not that is a bad thing.
So, in this information age, where you cannot even escape from being informed, we must remember to listen to our own truths. It’s quieter. It’s not fun, dramatic, or sensational. But it is the only way to make it through the bar graphs of our beliefs and the statistics of our souls.
The truth is, truth and lies are arbitrary. Both can push an agenda of hate. Love is its only combatant. If you love others, you would not throw your truth in anger, shaming, or with the intent to change them.
In this time of quarantine, social media has become the social life force for many. Let’s take a break from the negative agenda posting. The mental health of all depends on a calmer, more tolerant, social platform. Stop shaming, stop the politics, even if it’s true. What if every post was in our own words instead of a copy/paste/share? Would our world view allow us to write the words that hurt others? Post your truth.
Melanie is the Director of Marketing and Content Writer for WinternetWeb Technologies.
Melanie writes content for clients to promote marketing and branding in her web development business. She also writes for a blog and local community history projects and publications. She earned a Bachelors from Virginia Tech in Communications, English, and Religion. Melanie also enjoys writing fiction, spending time with her two daughters, antiquing, gardening, and community volunteering.