In physics, it’s believed that energy or mass can neither be created nor destroyed. (Necessarily, this begs the question of where then did all energy or mass come from originally, but what the heck. Let’s just work with what we’ve got.)
I believe the same thing can be said about truth, that is to say, that it can neither be created nor destroyed. The truth simply is what it is. That’s one of the main reasons that we’re so attracted to the truth…one of its primary appeals…what we love about it, in fact. The truth lasts. It will always come out. Our love of the truth will frequently put us in the hot seat but it will also set us free. Free to make a courageous choice. Free to contribute to what will endure in us.
Lies fall apart. Inevitably. What is false will crumble, sometimes quickly…sometimes slowly, but crumble it will. What’s left is the truth.
Lies take a great deal of energy to maintain. Once we’ve lied, we must be quite careful, almost vigilant, as to how we act and what we say when we are anywhere near the subject of our lie. Our tone of voice, our facial expressions will betray us just as quickly as a slip of the tongue. We become improvisational actors around our lie, compounding its complexity in our efforts to keep it propped up. We usually put on quite a show. And it’s exhausting.
The truth, however, stands for itself. Once we have spoken honestly as to how we felt or how something appeared to us or what something meant to us or what we did, we are free to leave it alone. It will never change. We spoke our truth. We are free to keep moving about our day, our life.
This is not to say that our truth will be well received, especially by those who aren’t seeking it. The truth requires courage…both in its speaking and in its hearing. It is, however, the only way to build anything (a relationship, a business, a government) that will be healthy and that will last.
So, here’s the kicker; it’s not that we don’t know this.
This is not breaking news. What is breaking news, literally today’s breaking news, is the leak of 2.6 terabytes of data from the firm Mossack Fonseca. These documents are reported to pull back the curtains on the shady and possibly illegal practices of various wealthy and powerful people across continents. Lots of truth.
It has taken courage to bring this into the public domain. Reputations and lives may be at risk.
Will we, the readers and listeners of this truth, have the courage to hear it? Will we have the courage to not turn away and pretend that this is simply some isolated incident or some sensationalizing journalism?
We were all raised with the metaphor and the understanding about the ‘tip of the iceberg’, how the main bulk of the problem still lies beneath whatever we struck that happened to be on the surface. That is the truth.
This is not a call to arms. This is a call to awareness. This is an attempt to speak to the truth amongst ourselves and to encourage one another to not be afraid. Only when we honestly look at the problem will the solution have a chance to emerge. It’s not in or from just one of us. It’s with and from all of us.
We know we’ve been silent for too long.
No responses yet