finding truth

My Grandma Braff used to tell her family that truth is only real when it is not a confirmed liar telling it. Grandma Braff would say that one lie is enough to never believe the person again and it takes only one lie to confirm he is a liar. If you need to disguise the truth even for a moment you have little respect for the truth and of course you should have even less respect for the person pretending to tell the truth. Grandma Braff had a younger sister Aunt Celia. Aunt Celia believed that truth could be stretched. If your cousin is an ugly girl she would say over and over again, but some nice rouge and red lipstick, a good brassiere and corset helped her be less ugly even though they were applications and not natural who would call you a liar if you called your cousin pretty. Truth is sometimes like a hemorrhoid Aunt Celia would say (especially when she had a few peach schnapps) , if you don’t sit on it or push too hard on it you can still go dancing without too much pain in the touchous (butt).

Truth has been hijacked, propagandized, polluted and made into a political sham especially in the US. Everyone it seems knows THE truth and has their cadre of facts to support it. If a preacher from atop the mount pontificates about it with his abridged version of a Bible in hand it it is the truth. If a bone fide Republican millionaire radio talk jock states the truth because after all he is closer to both George Washington and Jesus it must then be truth. If you are against something with great vehemence and vitriol repeating the same accusatory words over and over again minus anything but adjectives and perhaps an adverb or two it is the truth. If someone hates the same things/people/purposes as you all they need is your wink of the eye and it is the truth. The truth need not beg the question are the facts solid. All the truth needs is a bit of rouge, a brassiere a corset or two and some ruby red lipstick.

We have been told by the team at FOX, first Megyn Kelly and now Bill o’Reilly that Jesus and Santa are white. We are told by FOX entertainment specials Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly that there is indeed a war on Christmas simply because we can’t place nativity scenes on government property or let government workers and teachers say Merry Christmas. Sean Hannity from FOX has solicited Americans who swear they are telling the truth when they say the Affordable Health Care Law did them dirty, until they were found out to be liars. We are confronted by a savvy corporation with so called truths until they are found to be lies. But the savvy thing about them is that once these lies are told they are like a virus making them contagious and often times deadly.

Perhaps my Grandma Braff was a bit too rigid with her definition of truth and the name calling she labeled those who did not tell it. Perhaps my Great Aunt Celia was a bit too  easy in her definition of the truth thinking all it took was makeup to make it real. I am however confused and confounded as to  the chaos behind the truth. We talk about a nation divided, one in which many Americans are at extreme polar opposites. Common ground is always the goal but never found. Maybe if we all decide to seek truth via trust we could find our way; or maybe not depending on who you believe.