We Hold These Truths.
Repeat that phrase.
Again.
Like the evocative words that Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence championed (if you can overlook the overt fact that those same words weren’t drafted to include people who either looked like me or had my lady parts), there are just some things in our lives that are simply, and undeniably true. And it is because of that truth that we cannot sit idly by, while allowing ourselves to be swallowed whole by the lies of others, or even those of our own making.
After visiting a specialist a few weeks ago due to some health concerns, I was shown an x-ray of myself before being asked if I’d been in a recent automobile accident. Responding bemusedly that I had not, the specialist went on to explain that if not an accident, then the stress that I had been carrying had manifested itself physically; to the point that my x-rays resembled those of a whiplash sufferer.
It took several weeks and multiple treatments to get my proverbial equilibrium fully adjusted, but it has taken much longer to truly assess the purported stress that was shown to have been literally weighing me down. The more time I took to sit quietly and introspectively, the more I was able to identify areas in my life where stress was indeed staking a claim. Assessing those situations even more stringently, and I could pinpoint a single denominator common to every situation: untruth.
Whether lies I told myself to get through the day (“It’ll be all right”) or lies I knowingly let other people tell me (“We have to stick together…I’m here for you”), I realized that over time, I harbored those misstatements and even allowed them to become a part of who I was. And sadly, in so doing, I took on not only the fallacy of those words, but the intent behind them. I became responsible for their duplicity and the perpetuation of their harm. Those lies became a denseness; like a misty fog that didn’t quite saturated my clothing, but that dampened my skin just enough to be truly uncomfortable.
And it was in that perpetual discomfort that I had to decide to be dry. To be renewed. To be light.
I came to realize that I actually was accountable for any falsehood allowed to reside in my presence, and that that was no longer a responsibility I was willing to own. I stopped pursuing the best that I wanted from people, and instead began to see them for who they were. My conversations (and who I engaged in them with) started to change. I uncovered a lie whenever I heard one and asked for forgiveness when I told one.
I have come to accept more firmly than I ever have before that there is far too much truth in life to allow lies to inhibit the quality of that life. Because ultimately, combating lies for the sake of the truth is not only right, but self-evident.
