Truth: Three Sides to A Story…
“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Winston Churchill
Judgment of Solomon Fresco: The Truth will set you Free...
Today’s DailyPost prompt asked: Is it always better to know the truth, even when it hurts? Or is ignorance bliss? I read the questions and the popular statement I used for my post title flashed before me – There are three sides to every story; your side, my side and the truth. Sure, there are fundamental truths that we can all agree on; the sun rises and sets; we live and die, blood is red and we have differences and preferences in taste and interests. Then there are those gray areas; so-called opinions and hearsay masquerading as truth.
If someone wishes to share “the truth” about another person, it is often tinged with an opinion that might not necessarily include the full picture. Take for instance, the stuff on so-called Reality Shows; who knows how much of that is choreographed and how much is actually – Real? How often do we read stories in the media about criminal cases where the truth came out years later or where the seemingly innocent were eventually found to be guilty? Sure, we all want to know the truth… on our terms. What is truth? I’d say, give me the facts and let me decide.
Ignorance is bliss only if what we remain ignorant about is irrelevant to our survival… Even though, I am hard pressed to imagine where lack of knowledge is truly a healthy thing, I can understand the need for blissful choices. Okay, so there are people who choose to close their door to negative news and focus on the good. This is a choice they make not an act of ignorance. Perhaps, the idea of the blissfully ignorant is … a mirage? 😉 🙂
Let’s take a look at the famous story: Judgment of Solomon ~ King Solomon and the Baby via Wikipedia & 1Kings 3:16-28.
“Two young women who lived in the same house and who both had an infant son came to Solomon for a judgment. One of the women claimed that the other, after accidentally smothering her own son while sleeping, had exchanged the two children to make it appear that the living child was hers. The other woman denied this and so both women claimed to be the mother of the living son and said that the dead boy belonged to the other.
After some deliberation, king Solomon called for a sword to be brought before him. He declared that there is only one fair solution: the live son must be split in two, each woman receiving half of the child. Upon hearing this terrible verdict, the boy’s true mother cried out, “Please, My Lord, give her the live child—do not kill him!” However, the liar, in her bitter jealousy, exclaimed, “It shall be neither mine nor yours—divide it!” Solomon instantly gave the live baby to the real mother, realizing that the true mother’s instincts were to protect her child, while the liar revealed that she did not truly love the child. The reputation of the king greatly increased when all the people of Israel heard of this wise judgment.”
Unfortunately, we don’t all live in King Solomon’s world nor do we see such acts of wisdom daily; so the truth might not always be apparent. However, it is best to know the truth for the sake of justice and let the chips then fall where they may. Of course, it all depends on the source… who is sharing this so-called truth? Is it truth or opinion? As for blissful Ignorance, that too has its place … We will leave that topic for another day. 🙂
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear from you: Please leave me a comment. Thank You!
Positive Motivation Tip: Find the truth within, your instinct/intuition never lies to you.
Related Articles
- Return to King Solomon’s mines (cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com)
- Google Search LOG: 10 Quick Facts About Israel (trifter.com)
- Return to King Solomon’s Mines (biblicalpaths.wordpress.com)
PHOTO CREDITS: Fresco of King Solomon and the Baby via Wikipedia
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
thanks for the Churchill quotation: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Winston Churchill would have to comment a lot nowadays. The president from China in Washington, many smiling faces, avoiding confrontations, longing for money by business. Forget some truths …
I love that thought…there are 3 sides to every story…your side, my side and the truth. Of course, most of us usually feel that our side IS the truth. 🙂
I’ll have to check out the postaday wordpress prompts…I’ve never looked there…I think I should…you always come away with the best ideas for your posts.
the truth will either set you free or blind you in one eye.
I agree with you on that!
Love Winston Churchill’s quote! Also like the “3 sides to every story.” Sometimes I wish on some of these TV court shows, where each person tells his/her side and the stories are completely opposite, it would be so great to have a video of the occurrence in question and see what really happened!
Very nice post!
wonderful post!
Thank you L! 🙂 I enjoyed my visit to your blog too! :creative:
Eliz
your article inspired me to write about CHINA – USA relationships, about trues and lies, conflicts and smiling faces …
If you look at the truth, the Sun does not rise or set. It is the earth that revolve creating the illusion. The blood is not red, we call it red.
If we start looking for the truth, we will have to question everything that we have learned and everything that we took for granted.
“The truth is, we don’t know enough to distinguish between truth and lie.”
And that statement is its own proof. 😉
Great observation Sunil and there lies the devil in a dark place. It’s all debatable ain’t it? When is what we think we know truly universal and accepted truth? When does interpretation/semantics challenge our perceptions of what is truth? The truth is truth to A and a lie to B… LOL! 🙂
Well put! Very true… 3 sides to every story.
I like how you phrase the part about “ignorance is bliss”.. it’s true. Ignorance is bliss as long as it doesn’t KILL you not knowing! lol
A truely thought provoking post – thank you.
There seems to be so many versions of ‘the truth’ that maybe it is only ‘our truth’ that really counts. Other people’s version of what they believe to be ‘our truth’ is bound to be tainted with their views and opinions.
Be true to thy self.
Love the Winston Churchill quote – inspired choice Eliz
I’ll catch some flack for this I’m sure, but for me……it’s mostly ignorance is bliss. I do try to keep myself educated of current events, but my “ignorance is bliss” stance comes from trying not to stress too hard over things I can’t possibly change. So in those instances? Ignorance is definitely bliss.
You show a way of thinking I didn’t consider – I love the theory behind the three sides to a story!
Thanks for posting!