Falsehood is so easy, truth so difficult.
-- George Eliot
Without integrity, we have nothing to build on...or with.
And, I’m not lying. But, why do I even need to mention that? Because the value of the truth seems to be in question these days.
There are all kinds of things that require a basic commitment to truth. In other words, indiscriminate lying makes functioning impossible. Do you live at this address? Yes or no. Do you own the house? Yes or no. Did you get a degree? Yes or no. Is your resume all factual? Did you pay the taxes you owe? Or, perhaps more significantly (?), did something of significant consequence really occur? Did you see that man commit that crime? Is your accusation actually true (or, just partially)?
We are asked to tell the truth all the time; even expected to.
At some level, there has to be reality that is based on this expectation, On facts; not on conjecture, not on how we wished they were, not with significant pieces left out (or added).
Society depends on it — on our telling the truth.
When truth is merely a presentation or a characterization, designed to achieve some desired end, the whole system starts to break down. If I don't have to tell the truth, then lying is legitimized (because of the purpose it proports to serve) and actually needs to be perpetuated. But, when that particular end becomes more important than what happens along the way, the along the way starts to not matter. In fact, it is always along the way that matters the most, not some simply imagined end.
Besides, truth is not subservient to its efficacy. It just doesn't work that way. It doesn't really care how you use it. And, while falsehood can; in the end, truth can’t be bought and sold. Perhaps that is why we should always be wary of those trying to profit from so-called 'truth' — that means something significant about it has probably been altered.
Even though falsehood is so easy, if we are not willing to be accountable to truth, we end up trapped by it, in bottomless pit. And, this accountability doesn't start with the other guy. It starts with me. Because we are nothing more than just a bunch of mes — there is no we, without me and you. And without a more collective commitment to an integrity committed to truth, I can get off-track surprisingly quickly on my own (and so can you). Truth, at times, is painful to maintain, especially when the collective me loses its way. But, we must be committed to doing it; otherwise, we have no place to build something together if I am not committed to maintaining the good of what is true.
The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.
-- Harriet Beecher Stowe
With falsehood often being so easy, it is also at the very least disingenuous. While truth, at times, can feel somewhat unforgiving (if not harsh), as Stowe observes, there is also a kind of beauty about it, too. It is after all a gift to each one of us, and thereby to us collectively, because of the integrity it builds.
Perhaps this affirms the old adage:
The truth will set you free.