by Mac a'Bhaird

Created on: January 15, 2010

The truth: Do we really want to hear it?

For most people, the answer is no. Whoever said ‘the truth hurts’ sure was right. And people don’t want to hurt, they want to feel good.

The first reason (we) don’t want to hear the truth, is because of pride; it is so difficult to admit we’ve been wrong! Ouch! And, of course, it’s difficult to make the changes or change this new proposition, which has become an ‘issue’ to deal with, would enact.

So we toss up the defense; some would call it ‘denial’… but it’s really our justification for why we believe what we do.  Sadly, I recall the time my mother was gravely ill. We kids knew what was amiss. But my mother and dad were in total denial. Yes, I know it’s difficult, and not always wise to say, ‘Mom, you’re dying’, or ‘Dad, let’s face the facts, Mom isn’t getting better with these treatments’.  But as time progressed, we wanted to face some hard choices, so we attempted to broach the subject and over and over again we were stonewalled. There was a hostile reaction.  Paul of Tarsus told the Galatians, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Ah, how enlightening that statement is. Instead of thanking us for attempting to reconcile them to reality, they became angry. They didn’t want to hear it. It wasn’t until just hours before my mother passed away that my dad finally capitulated to reality.

I also remember a friend telling me that his sister asked him to be brutally honest with her about something regarding her children, so he dumped the truth on her. Her reaction, instead of saying, ‘well, thanks for being honest’ or something to that effect, she said, ‘you’re one to speak, you’re kids are no angels’. Ha! Why did she ask him to be brutally honest in the first place?

Why is it that people become hostile to someone who tries to tell them the truth? Have you ever thought of what bravery it takes to step out of the norm and stand for an unpopular position?

No, sad to say, people don’t want to hear the truth. I have seen many people become enemies because truth is a difficult thing to swallow.

Secondly, when something hurts (as the ‘truth’ does) what else do we do? We procrastinate facing it. Tomorrow is always a better time to deal with reality. Let’s eat drink and be merry today! So we don’t face it, not because we don’t think we eventually will, but not today.

I cite the assassination of John F. Kennedy. At the time, no one wanted to hear that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. Why? The ramifications that it was a conspiracy that involved more than one person were just too painful to deal with. So it was put away. Irony has it that today, nearly 75% of Americans do not believe that Oswald acted alone. I purport that at the time, people didn’t want to face the truth.

Twenty five years from now, when it is impossible to dig up the fresh facts, people will have a different view of the events surrounding the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Today, sad to say, the majority of people don’t want to face the facts that our government had prior knowledge of the attack. Truth hurts too much.  

http://www.911truth.org/

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