True or false

By Rennie Phillips

I was visiting with a guy the other day, and he asked whether what I write about is true or made up. I told him all of it is true, or at least from my perspective is true.

But I would have to admit some is probably embellished a tad bit at times. Kind of like the fisherman who brags about catching his limit of crappie, but fails to tell how big the fish were. There is a lot of difference between a limit of nice foot-long crappie and a limit of 8- or 9-inch crappie.

It may be fall, but it's also the season for political advertising. Campaign advertisement after advertisement is put out over the TV, radio, newspaper, Facebook or other sites. All one has to do is think about a particular candidate and one's email box is full of advertisements. Some come so cleverly disguised that one can't tell who sent it or what it's about. What is astounding to me is that two advertisements about the same topic will paint two different sides or viewpoints. But this is common.

Two witnesses who view an event from two perspectives will describe it in two different ways. Their attention is on different aspects of the same event. My wife and I will be driving down the road and I'll notice something really interesting, but when I mention it to her, she hasn't a clue what I'm talking about. Or we are driving down the road and I'll notice something along the edge of the road and it looks like a tool. When we go back and check it out, nine times out of 10 Marge never even saw it.

The same with the truth. Some will tell the story and from their perspective it is absolutely true. But there are also those who tell the story and they want you, the listener or viewer, to assume it's the truth when in fact it really isn't the whole truth. What they say is true, but it is only half of the truth. It's like when I paint a picture in words about our garden. You may see the garden full of tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini and all the other veggies, when in fact it is full of grass and weeds. The veggies are there, but many of them are hidden by the grass and such. It's true in a way, but not true as well.

Where I grew up in Nebraska, there were guys who would buy and sell horses. We just called them horse traders. They would buy a horse from Tom and then find a guy like Joe who would buy the horse. No horse is perfect. It always comes with baggage or problems. There might be physical problems or handling problems or it might even want to just buck your fanny off. The horse trader needs to sell the horse and make a little money, so he may not tell you the whole story or even the whole truth. So when the horse trader showed up, one pretty much assumed he wouldn't be telling the whole truth.

It's gotten so anymore that when we see ads or commercials or such from some politician, a good many of us assume it's not the truth, or at least the whole truth. I pretty much don't believe anything I read or see on TV or Facebook or even in the newspapers or magazines. I used to assume the news was true, but not anymore. My assumption anymore is that it's biased and probably only true to a degree. Those presenting the news can say it's true. But it's true only up to the point they stop telling the whole story and end where we will assume a wrong conclusion.

Two cars are driving down the road and both are involved in a car wreck. It is a head-on collision. When the reporter tells of the wreck, they report that one of the drivers has had previous DWI convictions. That's where the story ends. The conclusion is the driver was probably under the influence. Those DWIs may have been 20 years ago. The truth was reported, but not really.

It's sad that the truth isn't important. I think it is really sad. There have been times when I hated to tell the truth, but I went ahead and bit the bullet and told the truth. And there have been times when I lied for whatever reason. I can't think of a time in my past when I regretted telling the truth, but I can tell you about several when I lied. I regret not telling the truth. I wish I could go back and redo those times.

So how do we know if what we are hearing or reading or even seeing is the truth? My first thought would be to ask myself how does it taste. Does it seem right or correct? Does it taste like something is wrong? Is that little voice inside you saying that doesn't sound right? Check out the facts. I have wondered about a bunch of things and decided I'd do some checking. So I'd Google it. It's unreal how much you can find out just by Googling.

Another question for me is where did you hear it or see it or read it? Just the other day I read on Facebook where this one group had voted to do something, and when I read it my first thought was, "That doesn't sound right." So I Googled it. The statement was correct, but there were reasons they had voted a certain way. Half the truth.

So how does one learn how to tell the truth? It probably starts at home. I can't remember my mom and dad ever telling a lie. Never. Not even a little one. If you didn't want the whole truth, then you didn't ask my mom. As one gets older, I think telling the truth is a decision. It is a conscious decision to tell the truth regardless of the cost.

Until next time.