LIFE’S LESSONS
By Henrylito D. Tacio
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
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In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde commented, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” To which Alexander Solzhenitsyn contends, “We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.”
“Truth is tough,” pointed out Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Professor at the Breakfast Table. “It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch, nay, you may kick it all about all day like a football, and it will be round and full in the evening.”
Douglas Mac Arthur and The Theory of Relativity
In his book, Reminiscences, General Douglas MacArthur – known in the Philippines for his famous quote, “I shall return!” – recalled a classroom experience he had as a West Point cadet. His class was studying the time-space relationship, which the great genius Albert Einstein later called his “Theory of Relativity.”
The text was very complicated, and Cadet MacArthur could not figure out what it was all about. So, he just memorized the pages concerned. When he was called upon to recite, he dutifully reeled off almost word for word what the book said. The instructor looked at him in a puzzled sort of way and inquired, “Do you understand his theory?”
It was a bad moment for the young cadet, but he stood up straight and answered bravely, “No, sir.”
Hearing his answer, everyone in the class seemed to stop breathing. You could have heard a pin drop. The young MacArthur braced himself and waited. Then, the instructor said very slowly, “Neither do I, Cadet MacArthur. The class is dismissed.”
The truth amongst more luminaries
“Truth is generally the best vindication against slander,” wrote American president Abraham in a letter to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. To which one sage added, “Truth is not always popular, but it is always right.”
There is also truth to this statement by Arthur Schopenhauer: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
“So, what was it then exactly this truth-telling?” asked Graham Swift in Mothering Sunday. “It was about being true to the very stuff of life, it was about trying to capture, though you never could, the very feeling of being alive. It was about finding a language. And it was about being true to the fact, the one thing only followed from the other, that many things in life – of so many more than we think – can never be explained at all.”
“Truth exists,” someone once said, “only falsehood has to be invented.” After all, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened,” dismissed Sir Winston Churchill.
And Filipinos should listen to the words of Edith Sitwell: “The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.” According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.”
12 Reasons to Tell the Truth
“Telling the truth isn’t always easy; that’s one of the reasons people lie – it’s easier at that moment than telling the truth,” wrote Bill Vossler in his article, “12 Reasons to Tell the Truth.”
You may not have heard of these truthful twelve, and so allow me to share some passages from Vossler’s article:
1. Truth is always right. “Lying is wrong,” he said. “It’s that simple. Every culture and religious system recognizes and teaches this moral truth.”
2. Lies will come back to haunt you. “You can’t hide from your lies; you can sweep them under the rug for a while, but in an hour, a day, a month or a year, they will wiggle back out on the floor into daylight for everyone to see.”
3. Lies weigh you down. If you lie to someone, you feel bad. You wonder what he knows and whether he’ll confront you or not. “In a way, you become a fugitive, running from the lie you told.”
4. Lies prevent you from developing as a person. “You might easily spend time, energy and worry on lies instead of concentrating on friendship, learning, joy and having fun.”
5. Truth enhances your reputation. “If you work hard at telling the truth, other people will notice. They will also respect you for it, because they know how difficult telling the truth can sometimes be.”
6. Truth will make true friends for you. “Friendship is built in shared interests caring for each other, and honesty, or telling the truth, among other things.”
7. In truth, you will feel better about yourself. “Truth is a gentle, healing sponge that keeps your conscience clean and spotless, and you happy.”
8. Truth makes you a better person. “If you choose to tell lies, then you will probably begin to choose other wrong directions in life.”
9. One truth-telling makes the next one easier. “Telling the truth requires practice. Each truth-telling strengthens you for doing the right and truthful thing the next time.”
10. Your truth makes it easier for others to tell the truth. “Your being truthful makes it easier for others to be truthful with you, and it is through knowing these truths that you can make changes to accomplish many of the things you want to accomplish in life.”
11. You’ll be different. “Truth-tellers are few and far between.”
12. You have to live by yourself. “Because of being human, everyone falls short of always telling the truth. But if you try hard and are gentle and kind and caring when telling the truth, you’ll gain friends, fame, and riches in your personal life that you can’t now imagine.” – ###
