Imfamous Truth

    “I got the news today, oh boy,” the words, the song, reminding me that truth although necessary, should at times be tempered with empathy, possibly half-truths. Not just any partial truth, and not just partial truths that challenge the entirety of truth, but half-truths that are implicated by the whole truth. Truth is not always what we should hear when we don’t want to hear it, or at times, we need to hear it when it is softened with just enough deception to allow us to mislead ourselves, without realizing it, until it no longer makes a difference.

    The truth like bad news should be allowed to marinate, giving it a chance to absorb enough understanding to be mistaken for a suggestion. It’s not that suggestions are less impactful than absolutes, but can leave an aftertaste, so to speak, that renders them questionable. It is like forgetting the potato salad in the sun, and everyone becomes ill and blames the delicatessen, threatening to sue, or worse; you having to admit it was your fault. The truth at that point doesn’t make anyone feel better, but it does cause one to consider the value of refrigeration, and how it is underappreciated.

    Criticism, like any subjective examination leaves a hollow doubt, that although not intended to disarm the subject, does weaken his or her powers, but only if they do not take the opportunity to fill that space with objective examination and acceptance. Like Super Man, we have the ability to leap tall buildings with a single bound, or be crippled by the kryptonite acceptance of a critique meant to highlight what we exposed to others, for that very purpose. 

    Examining the insight of another as it relates to what you see, how you feel about a subject, can be educational if you are able to accept the premise of that insight; the subjective rendering of another’s acceptance of observations of two people looking at the same object and seeing varied aspects of it.

    Given that opinion is influenced by experience, for it to be of value, it must be separated into two camps that contribute differing responses to the same question. The responses have to be examined not under the light of correct or incorrect, but their value which must be determined individually, as it affects each of us differently.

    We have observed recently in our society the differing interpretations of fact, resulting in diverse versions of the truth. What can be learned from the recognition that truth, like beauty, has been relegated to the eye of the beholder? When fact upon which truth was traditionally based has been altered to fit a need, both fact and truth are diminished.

    When our truth and fact are contested, our immediate response is to question the authority of the one interpreting our observations. And that is a valid response, but if we allow it to end with disregarding the criticism or praise, we have done nothing but validate our own view. 

    To be objective we must take off the bullet proof vest, and walk into the fray, examining the possibility of danger by exposing ourselves to it by accepting the results of those findings.

    I recently wrote a story, the premise being we have reached the tipping point concerning our ability to respond to our environmental crisis. It was reviewed by someone who believed it was too futuristic.  It needed to be more relevant to the present to have the intended impact; creating an atmosphere where people are forced to see the immediacy of our situation.

    My attempt was to do just that. The criteria I used to present my case, was apparently not sufficient to convince this person, and therefore it is possible will not awaken others. To blame the person for their interpretation of the facts I presented, does not change the fact that I did not succeed in this individuals case or perhaps dozens or thousands of other cases. 

    I was forced to see, that although my intention was to spotlight the emergency I feel, my message was not accepted by everyone with equal urgency. The reaction I’d aspired to  however, was received by others as relevant to our times. 

    It is often said we should attempt to learn from our mistakes. I do not consider criticism a mistake, but an opportunity to learn. It does not change the fact that no matter what we attempt, it may be interpreted in different ways by a variety of people. If anything, it does not discourage the fact that a story I believe needs to be told, should be told, with the realization that it will be interpreted in different ways. That fact should not deter us from the attempt.

    When I was a young boy, five, six, I believed if I jumped off the roof of our garage with an umbrella, it would approximate flying. It of course did not allow me to fly, but it did give me, if for just an instance, the feeling of flight, and that made the twisted ankle all the more relevant to the act.

    Criticism like umbrellas are mere pieces of the experience, and should not diminish the outcome, or deter our ability to jump into the unknown. Our abilities all very, and it is easy to fall into the abyss of doubt never to be heard from again. But we all have umbrellas capable of helping us rise to a level, that although it does not dismiss the abyss outright, it does put it in perspective.

    As we approach the seasons of the earth being tested, and our gamble on the amount of time it either bursts into flame, or drowns, we must remember it only takes a spark to ignite the will of a people, a world. 

    Not knowing the mechanics of reaching every individual with our story should not deter us from attempting to reach that one, who takes that spark, and uses it to start the world on fire with a leterary style that enlighten those in the darkness that reside in the abyss we escaped from, because we have no choice but to do what we do, regardless of how it is viewed or by whom.