Bird Droppings March 27, 2025
Can we find Truth in an untruthful world?

For the third or fourth time, I reread “Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women” by the late Wilma Mankiller. Mankiller was the former Chief of the Cherokee Nation and a Native American Activist, author, lecturer, and a several-time cancer survivor. I borrowed my status for today on Facebook from her writings. I had planned to write about a book this morning, but after receiving an injection in my hip for bursitis, it took a bit longer to get started today. I am working on several writing and photo projects, but my hip got in the way, sidetracking me from getting anything done today. I might need to finish my crackers and get rolling. I feel better than I felt this morning. Today, I will address an issue at the root of why many problems exist today. The situation reflects their Truth or a lack thereof in our society today.

“I don’t think anybody anywhere can talk about the future of their people or an organization without talking about education. Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future. “In Iroquois society, leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people. “Wilma Mankiller

After pondering and reading more of Wilma Mankiller’s book, I find new insights that seem to hold more meaning today than they did during my previous reading. One of these aspects is Truth. When elected Chief many years back, Wilma was the first woman to be elected head of any prominent tribe, and she based her life and philosophy on Truth. So, perhaps it is fitting today that I address an issue at the foundation of why many of the day’s issues even exist: the Truth or its lack thereof.

“A king asked a sage to explain the Truth. In response, the sage asked the king how he would convey the taste of a mango to someone who had never eaten anything sweet. No matter how hard the king tried, he could not adequately describe the flavor of the fruit, and, in frustration, he demanded of the sage, ‘Tell me then, how would you describe it?’ The sage picked up a mango and handed it to the king, saying, ‘This is very sweet. Try eating it!” Hindu Teaching Story

Sometimes, we can get the point across simply by telling the Truth. Nothing can describe the truth more adequately than Truth Itself. I have written about Truth numerous times and talked with teachers and educational experts about that subject. It is tough to always be truthful in our society today. We can often question what Truth is, much as the great philosophers of old did. As I read the Hindu parable above, it hit me. Perhaps the truth lies within the experience; borrowing from the great educator and philosopher John Dewey, Truth is within the experience. It is about being able to find it through a life event. For a few months, in terms of history, I have been saying that it is nonfiction at the point of occurrence, but as soon as someone tells the story, it becomes fiction. I may need to watch Tom Hanks’ movie about him as a traveling newsman.

“It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth… and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.” Sir Francis Bacon

“It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth.” Arthur James Balfour

As I read what these great thinkers say about Truth, it is disheartening that they view Truth as a rare and elusive commodity, scarce and hard to find. We watch the news and read papers daily, and we choose to believe or not believe what we see. ” Batboy is having plastic surgery to look normal” was the title of a grocery store tabloid many months ago. One of my favorites was when Bill Clinton was in office, and he was having sex with an alien. Most of us see these doctored photos and total fabrications and pass them off as genuine, but some people take them to heart. Many believe the Apollo missions were a total fabrication because, for example, the Van Allen Belts and numerous other historical events were also fabricated. Conspiracy theories abound regarding daily happenings, leading to various conclusions. Many have been scientifically debunked, including the September 11 attacks, yet they persist. While teaching genetics, a local science professor comments in class that the Apollo mission is a hoax. How can one thing he never saw be bogus and teach something he never saw again?

“Between truth and searching for it, I choose the second.” Bernard Berenson

“When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.” Otto Von Bismarck

Why is truth so elusive? I find it hard to understand that we go through life intent on fabrication, deceit, and deception. Although nearly a hundred years old, Bismarck’s comment remains remarkably true.

“Truth can never be told to be understood and not be believed.” William Blake

“Truth lies within ourselves: it takes no rise from outward things, whatever you may believe. There is an inmost center in us all, where Truth abides in fullness and to Know rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape than in effecting entry for light supposed to be without.” Robert Browning

“A few observations and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.” Alexis Carrel

I look back and see how, so many times, in avoiding the Truth, the tales grew with each moment, and soon a story took the place of a simple event. Soon, a novel unfolds, and the line between fiction and nonfiction becomes a literal canyon.

“The pursuit of truth will set you free, even if you never catch up with it.” Clarence Darrow

“Time is precious, but truth is more precious than time.” Benjamin Disraeli

“Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.” Meister Eckhart

Isn’t it sad that Truth is so complicated and yet so easy? Telling the Truth eliminates numerous additional words and time that could be spent, perhaps going in the right direction rather than pursuing issues that may not exist. It is both simple and yet elusive to many.

“The greater the truth, the greater the libel.” Lord Ellenborough

“Truth is beautiful, without doubt, but so are lies.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

We easily get caught up in deceit because this is what we want to hear. Watching the news unfold about our past president, spun by each side, reveals two seemingly different stories, almost opposite in content, yet the same event. The Truth may be painful or challenging, so the fabrication becomes a reality. A movie released a few years back portrays the world of a person with schizophrenia, titled “A Beautiful Mind.” Dr. John Nash is played by Russell Crowe very convincingly. Dr. Nash eventually comes to realize the duplicity of his reality and learns to cope with it. Many of us never accept the unreal we create daily as we fabricate and manipulate that around us.

We are brought up accepting untruths; professionals and politicians work at telling half-truths and fabricating them to do their jobs as they run the country.

Wouldn’t it be exciting if politicians could take a few drops of medicine and become truthful? We wouldn’t need politicians, and anyone could run for office. Would it not be great if we could believe those who run the country for us, elected by us, and not rely on shock jock radio and TV personalities who build their listening audience on deceit. What if the president was telling the Truth and the commentators who were angling for listeners were lying? As I examine this concept, it is disheartening that we have such a short attention span. We listen to the loudest and most exciting version, even when we watch an event unfold and know what is real. I wonder how many people believed the photo of Bill Clinton and the Alien back in the day. Recently, a movie, The Campaign, essentially a comedy, made its way back and forth until just before the end, when the candidate down in the polls began telling the Truth and changed the election.

Respect for the truth comes close to being the foundation of all morality. Frank Herbert

“Peace if possible, but truth at any rate.” Martin Luther

“You’ll never get mixed up if you tell the Truth. Then you don’t have to remember what you’ve said, and you never forget what you’ve said. Sam Rayburn

We live in a society where morality is bantered about as a catchword. We live in a world where peace is often elusive because Truth is nowhere to be found. We live in a world where politicians count how often the other side has changed their minds or rhetoric on issues. We live in a world where many are in harm’s way. Many of these instances are due to untruths, which we justify by buying into additional untruthful information and rationales. Do we even remember the what and the why of the actual event? As I sit reading and writing this morning, please keep all those in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, and always give thanks. namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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