(DISCLAIMER: Pontius Pilot looked into the face of Jesus and asked, “What is truth?” He was staring Truth in the face but didn’t recognize that’s what Jesus is.
This is a story I have written. Some of it is true, some of it is not. Can you tell the difference? Do you know the truth when you see it? Are you willing to work for it and wait for it? To settle for nothing less than the whole truth? To seek the truth with all your heart in order to find it?
Then read on. But pay close attention, because the truth isn’t always where and what it seems. Or whom it seems. And very often, life is stranger than fiction.)
The first entry to my “Disclaimer” series was a long one because I was trying to set the stage and give a general idea of what has been happening to me and my friend during this past year. (go and read the first Disclaimer Blog now , if you haven’t already. “Disclaimer": Down but not Out”).
I have stated that we are on a search for truth (never an easy task) but I also warned you that I would be mixing fact and fiction and it was up to you to decide where the truth lies. (I’m a professional writer and I can’t help but take you on a bit of a journey to get to the Truth at the end of the line).
I’ve spent the past week or so thinking about how to proceed next. This past year has been so harsh that I don’t have enough distance to make sense out of it and I also don’t want to re-live it again and again by writing about it all the time. It’s like having someone you love die. While the grief is fresh, it’s all you think about, then when you get a little distance you don’t want to talk or even think about it. But hopefully, later, a person can look at things and see both the good and bad that came from it.
So when I turned on my computer and came to my main blog I saw there were several comments pending and waiting for me to accept or reject them. I’ve generally had a policy that if someone is not cursing or slandering a specific person I will publish what they’ve written just as it is. Reading the comments in response to my “Disclaimer: Down but not Out” entry gave me an idea how to continue. I have published them just as they are and then replied to their comments.
I have stated that several of my closest family members did not help in any way during this, my darkest time. However, I have a HUGE family and purposely did not identify anyone specifically. Yet, certain people recognized themselves and proceeded to write the nastiest and most critical responses I’ve had to anything I’ve ever written in my entire life. Interesting. Why do they think I wrote all about them when I said so many different things?
And while you read the different peoples comments ask yourself these questions: “ If I knew these people or they were my family members, would I ask them for help when I am desperate? Would I expose my vulnerabilities to them? Would I put myself in a position to owe them money? Would being with them make me feel safe, loved and supported? Would they help me to be better or would they rip me down?
Let me give you another warning. Just as truth is not always obvious, sometimes it is also fleeting. Visible for a moment and then hidden again. A week ago in my town we had hardly received any rain at all. The grass, bushes and trees were brown, grey and dry. It was quite ugly to look at really. But just one week and a couple of large rainfalls later and you would hardly recognize it as the same place. It was green, fresh and full of oxygen. Just as something can so quickly come to life, it can disappear just as quickly. Can the truth also be that way? Does it stay forever green or will it vanish? Is a person who lies all the time like subjecting the truth to a drought?
I’d also like to bring your attention to the comments in another way. I noticed that some people took me to mean something that I never actually said. I re-read my original entry over and over but just couldn’t figure out why they were making some of the comments.
In high school I had a teacher that would tell us whenever she handed out a test, “ Take the time to read the questions twice. Make sure you know what they are saying and what they are asking for.” Apparently a lot of people read something but don’t actually READ it and she (the teacher) would see kids get answers wrong simply because they thought the question was asking for something that it wasn’t.
Once I wrote an editorial to a Christian newspaper about a Christian radio station and asked why they were playing songs like, “Baby, Baby” (from Amy Grant) which doesn’t mention God at all, but they wouldn’t play songs by someone like Elvis, who actually recorded a bunch of gospel songs. The paper got several responses to my editorial but the majority kept saying I thought things I didn’t actually think. One person wrote and asked me why I was against Rock n Roll. I loved Rock n Roll. Another person thought I was an old “geezer” for being against drums in a church service when I actually loved drums in church. Another person asked me why I hated Amy Grant when I actually owned the album that had the song, “Baby, Baby” on it. There were 9 responses and I most accurately remember the one guy who totally disagreed with me. BUT, even though he disagreed, he actually got and understood what I had written. He had a logical reason why they shouldn’t play Elvis. I didn’t agree with him but I thought, “out of 9 people, only one person actually KNEW what I was saying.”
So here’s a piece of my great and massive wisdom: “We will not get one step closer to the truth until we are willing to invest the time to listen and understand each other, because I suspect that finding the truth is a joint effort.” (at least it would be more fun to have it that way)
