Where Does the Truth Lie…

Where Does the Truth Lie? In the Middle of Nowhere

What is the truth? It’s a simple enough question and the answer should be self-evident. Back in the day, when the world was younger and more innocent (as was I) we all knew right from wrong. It was hammered into us on a daily basis at home, school, on TV, the radio and even newspapers told the truth… mostly.

The world of my youth, the 60s and 70s has long gone. The world of today is cynical, hateful and the truth has been compromised, mostly by one man. The Washington Post claims that over a four year period, Trump’s false or misleading claims have totalled to over 30k. That’s an awful lot of lies in anyone’s book.

Of course, politicians have become famous over the years for mostly avoiding questions, if not telling outright lies. But Trump and his current bunch of cronies have taken telling lies to new heights. With verbal sleight of hand? Hardly, it’s pure and simple out of the Nazi playbook of 1936. As Joseph Goebbels was once supposed to have said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Or a variation on that is “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.” Either way, you see the problem, even Goebbels, a consummate liar, has a variation of sayings on the theme of being a good liar.

Does it really matter? Well yes, I would say obviously it matters. As a child myself and my classmates had stories told to us that had a message. Like this one from Aesop.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf taken from Aesop’s Fables

A young boy in a small mountain village is given the job of being the village shepherd, looking after a flock of sheep each day. He takes the sheep into the hills to graze. He is told if he sees a wolf he must ring the bell he has been given and shout ‘Wolf!’
In the hills, it’s not long before the boy becomes bored with nobody to talk to. He decides to have some fun and pretends there’s a wolf. He rings the bell and shouts ‘Wolf!’
Shortly, men from the village come running carrying their guns. The boy says the wolf has already run off. The men are pleased and congratulate the boy for his quick thinking.

Days later, the boy is bored again and cries ‘Wolf!’ once more. When the men arrive only to discover no wolf, again, they are unimpressed. The boy becomes worried that they don’t believe him.

A few days later as the boy is minding the sheep, a real wolf shows up and attacks the sheep. The boy rings his bell and shouts ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ but the men, down in the village, on hearing the boy, assume he’s lying and the wolf kills many sheep.
The moral of the tale? Nobody believes a liar…even when he’s speaking the truth.

I predict at some point, someone, a politician probably will say something very important that we should all take heed of. But we won’t, because nobody will believe it to be true.

If you want to read in the garden, then click the links below to read my Brittle Saga trilogy, The Midnight Series and my Kindle Unlimited collection. You then have the advantage that your eBook reader can also be used to swat flies.