truth, anything but

When I was young a visit to my Grandpa Buncher’s home was far from  exciting for a Sunday afternoon adventure. Grandpa Buncher was effusive in telling my sister and I how big we were getting or how smart we were, but after the initial kisses, hugs and compliments most conversation directed by him would shut down. We would all sit in the living room, my parents talking to my aunts and usually my sister Francie and I could be found in a comatose state watching Grandpa Buncher watching TV. As it happened that one long Sunday afternoon a local news bulletin interrupted the already boring adventure show stating that Negros (it was 1957) had just robbed a white persons jewelry store. The store in question happened to be two store fronts away from my Grandfather’s Tailor Shop. The owner of the jewelry story was speaking to the reporter saying those Negros had been casing his place of business for awhile. Then continued by saying he knew when more then two of THEM congregated in front of his store he was sure they were up to no good.  The final conclusion this man made was go with your gut you know what is right and what is wrong, do something before it is too late.

A noise came from my Grandfathers throat so guttural, so deep so harsh my parents stopped their conversation with my aunts, my sister and I jumped up and we all assumed my Grandfather was having a heart attack. My Grandfather snapped at me, Gerry, shut off that television, now. He had never barked orders. And then without any hesitation my Grandfather said three words, fanatik, durachit, schmuck... the first two Russian for bigot, fool, the latter idiot in Yiddish.

My Grandpa then went on looking at my parents and aunts at first saying that the jewelry shop owner is not the victim here but the instigator. He chases anyone who has dark skin from his store, he criticizes Jews wearing black coats as Communists, he yells as the youngsters stop to tie their shoes in front of his store. He has told me this is the Shady Side neighborhood, too many Jews seem to be shopping here, let them stay in their own neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. He says what is wrong with America, too many others think they own the place. My Grandpa then looked directly at my sister and I with such severe intensity we thought his eyes were going to pop out of head, and said, a terrible thing happened to this man indeed, but his crimes of hate are just as wrong. “If you invent the enemy and his crimes you will never understand the truth.” There was silence in the room, my father gave my Grandpa a shot of schnapps and slowly the atmosphere returned to semi- boredom. 

For a while all that resonated with me was the idea of creating the enemy and the crime and not seeking the truth. I had thought that truth, being truth was solid, unbreakable, something unshakeable. And that day my Grandpa said you could invent it. It took many years to understand just how vulnerable the truth really was. 

The truth has been shattered, shook, and sinisterly obliterated in this election year. The truth of the matter has been replaced with a matter of fact that fiction and falsehood can stand as equals with the truth. Base you fiction on the Bible. Base your family’s misperceptions of real on selfish hate. Base the denial of honest because the facts don’t weigh in your favor. But somehow as my Grandpa said in 1957 “If you invent the enemy and his crimes you will never understand the truth.”

The truth invented and the crimes that follow in the year 2012:

It's November 7th, 2012, and a re-elected Barack Obama has just handed over the sovereignty of the United States to the United Nations, sparking a civil war. Lubbock County, Texas, Judge Tom Head’s interview on FOX 34 News.

 “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” Missouri Congressman Todd Akin.

Accusations by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., that an Islamist group has infiltrated the U.S. government are drawing fierce criticism from fellow lawmakers and religious groups. Bachmann and four other GOP legislators have sent letters to five government agencies citing “serious security concerns” about what Bachmann has called a “deep penetration in the halls of our United States government” by the Muslim Brotherhood.

These men and women are elected officials with the duty to uphold the laws, the morals, the values of the United States, but somehow have no difficulty in shaking the foundations of truth. And none of them have shown any remorse in doing do.