What is truth..correct...best..important?

ESSAY RESPONSE:

February 5, 2008


Q: How does one (an individual, a group) determine what is truth / correct / best / important?
A: Well...it’s a hell of a question!

It raises more questions than ultimate answers. The following thoughts are part of my truth.

All of us (individual or group) on this earth are the sum total of our experiences. Our truth is shaped by the century, continent, culture, race, religion, resources and history of that experience.

Our truth is subjective, but not limited. Our understanding of truth lies within a continuum of discovery that keeps redefining and building upon itself. If we stretch and add to our experiences...our knowledge and truth expands and embraces the wonderful complex diversity of our existence. We find congruence as we discover the truths of others.

We do not have the right to arbitrarily determine what is “truth, correct, best or important” ... for another entity.

We need to learn to listen and understand: there is more than one “correct” solution to a problem…what is best for us is not best for someone else…what is important to us lies elsewhere in the priorities of others.

We need to embrace the diversity of truths in this world. We need to respect ...and be awed by how many unique ways people have found to survive on our fragile globe.

We need to respect the truths of others.

We humans have always had an innate pull to believe in something or some deity beyond our immediate understanding ...ever since the beginning of time. Societies have worshiped and organized themselves around those beliefs …within the context of the country, century and society or religion into which we were born.

Does it matter if society is organized around religions or rules or magic beliefs....if it works for that group or person?

If we can understand this concept ….do we have the right to insist that one truth or choice is better than another? If we look closely ...there are shared values ...in each one. We need to respect this most profound truth of mankind.

We need to look hard at the truths that are driving us as individuals and as a country now.

Empty rhetoric doesn’t solve problems. Neither does pre-emptive war strikes on a country that will not bow and scrape.

Rock-hard religious morality stances will not bring about progress...only dead bodies and eternal feuds.

Greed and conspicuous consumption infringe on moral stances that would honor and support the needs of our human race upon this earth.

What happened to diplomacy, mediation, tact, respect, attentive listening, discipline, and respect for law?

Have we no patience to listen to the concerns of the other side? Could we find solutions without having to murder innocent people who get in the way?

What great American or personal truth is deciding what is correct, best or important for other nations?

Power alone...with all its wealth, weapons and armies only make things worse when we do not pay attention to the root causes of dissent and war.

When do justice, common sense, creativity, fairness, and use of resources come into play?

When do we focus on mankind’s need for food, water, shelter, jobs, medical care, education, religious freedoms and a homeland?

Could we work on those issues instead of bombing the hell out of our world?

What truth is shaping our values?

How much is enough?
Today, it is the war on Iraq: How many dead are enough before one side or another proves a point? How many maimed?

When does the scale get balanced between their dead and our dead?

We lost almost three thousand innocent citizens on 9.11.01. We have caused the death of approximately one hundred thousand men, women and children of Iraq in return. Is it enough yet? They were not responsible for the actions of Saddam nor did they participate in attacking America.

What truth...are we deciding for them?
How many of our honorable young men and women have to die or return home with life altering wounds before we will have corrected someone else’s country?

When our troops rushed to protect the oil facilities instead of the halls of antiquities...was that a revealing tip-off about our coveting the second largest source of oil in the world?

We allowed the looting of hospitals, schools, and government offices.

We allowed a power/leadership vacuum to develop when we dismantled the government structure.

We blew the cover of “democratic intent” when we closed down the press.

We approved torture via official documents before we planned the war. Is it any wonder we have lost the respect of the world?

Have we proven that we know best?

We showed an empty heart when we did not immediately fix the infrastructures of water,
waste disposal and medical services that we bombed into oblivion. How desperate and sick do people have to get?

We showed a greedy soul when we gave the jobs of rebuilding Iraqi industry to American companies and their contractors rather than unemployed hungry Iraqis. Think of Americans making $500 a day when Iraqi men have no way to feed their families.

After thousands of years of tribal and religious government structure, who are we to come and tell them they have to change? How does this country founded on the establishment of freedom of religion and the right to choose our form of government deny that right to other countries?

When did we begin to believe that bombs and bullets can change beliefs?

How have we come to embrace the idea that causing more poverty, hunger and loss of hope can turn around the actions of a desperate people?

We need to ask ourselves.....what are the truths of our own individual experience … do we know?
What truths, as a society, do we as a nation embrace?

Are we open to the truths of others?

We should be contemplating the values we hold as a result of our experiences as individuals and as a country...instead of pondering who determines what is truth, correct, best or important.

Our values should shape our choices and actions.