It’s time we pick up the truth, dust it off, and elevate it to a place of honor.

The truth is barely a thing, anymore. It’s viewed as an optional a la carte item, spun to satisfy personal agendas. The truth is now subject to whim, and is regularly and intentionally distorted. The truth is so assiduously ignored, that we’ve become accustomed to its absence. We hardly register the value difference between lies and the truth.

I’ve just decided that I can’t stand it anymore. My head spins when I hear people lie. It happens with alarming regularity on the national stage. Many of us sit by and watch with visible outrage and muted voices. Some lies are spoken so often, with such confidence that I find myself wondering if there is value in considering the merits of what I know to be untrue. In other words, I waste time pondering what isn’t real! I’ve made a decision to fight for the truth. The truth can be agreeable or offensive, but it has intrinsic value either way. We are lost without it.

Esteem for the truth has dropped, and tolerance for lies has risen. No longer are lies and liars beyond the pale. If a liar says what people want to hear, they listen; if not they call the truth a lie. The message is that the truth is only valued, when it supports predetermined goals and beliefs. This is our dangerous, new normal.

Seeking truth for the sake of truth is worth the effort. Naturally, there is a tendency to blunt the difficulty of hard truths by embracing convenient lies, but we can resist it. Think about the reality (truth) of climate change. We are stuck having a debate about the reality of it, making it impossible to have a conversation about viable solutions for it. This would be funny, if there wasn’t so much at stake.

The truth is, we should be ardently pursuing the facts surrounding climate change. Unfortunately, abstract debate about this issue fills the space that scientific truth should have. I believe our reluctance to openly reject lies has to do with uncertainty regarding the superiority of truth. If we lived in a world with a healthy regard for the truth, there would be no such thing as a “science denier”. Affinity for the truth would have generated a proactive plan to diminish the effects of global warming. In this case, protecting the truth is saving ourselves.

Truth exists on its own. It’s not impacted by our acknowledgement, or lack thereof. If a tree falls in the forest, and we don’t hear it, it still fell. The fact of the tree having fallen is true whether it rots unseen where it landed or is cleaned up and used for firewood. We must make truth the foundation for every conclusion we draw. Healthy perspective and useful conclusions are derived from a foundation of truth. When we rely on lies, our perspective and conclusions are tainted, and things get messed up. The truth isn’t what we wish. It is, what it is.

The truth is universal, and the pursuit of it is necessary. When we are at our best, we depend on it, and take comfort in knowing it. It gives value to our every thought, feeling or belief. It is the essential element of any worthy endeavor.

Truth is often hard to hear, hard to live with and inconvenient; but truth is reality. When we operate in reality there’s a greater chance that those with differing views can enter into reasonable dialogue and reach reasonable solutions. Difference of opinion that springs from a foundation of truth, is less likely to be the result of self interest, and more likely to yield tenable resolution.

The truth is beautifully simple. We can’t live successfully without it. Fundamental to every value we hold dear, (love, honor, justice…), is the truth. The people I most admire, and the person I most want to be, loves the truth.

I’m reconciling with the truth. I will pursue it, and speak it. I’ll value it, by setting aside relationships with people who prefer to bury it, rather than deal with it. From now on, I insist on the truth.

The truth needs protection. Quiet acceptance of the lies that we live with: lies that propel the decisions that dictate our lives, is untenable. I can’t change the world, but I can stake out my place, and make it clear where I stand. I plan to speak in no uncertain terms about what I know to be true. Join me. The truth doesn’t need us. We need it.

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