does truth have versions?

My mother went to the Medical College of Georgia's Medical School graduation this year to see a dear friend graduate and become a doctor. The speaker at the ceremony had only but a few moments to convey something to these students who were embarking on their own journeys to pursue one of the most respectable professions out there in my opinion. He was given just a few moments to instill morals and virtues into the young minds of the 180 graduates. And Cormac McCarthy (the speaker) referenced the book No Country for Old Men, "My daddy always told me, just do the best you know how. And tell the truth. He said there was nothing to set a mans mind at ease like waking up in the morning and not having to decide who you were. And if you have done something wrong, stand up and say you've done it. And say you're sorry and get on with it. Don't haul stuff around with you." And of course he followed the quote with his own feelings on truth, but this stuck with me. It doesn't need to be said eloquently, the truth is worth its weight in gold.

For a good number of my days up until about 3 years ago, I lived vicariously through shortcuts. I wasn't telling lies, because I was telling "versions of the truth." It seeped into many arenas of my life. Starting as an adolescent with altering stories to my parents to provide a buffer for my actions, avoiding confrontations with friends to escape my lies underneath, and stepping on my colleagues in school selfishly to get where I was going. Shortcuts are dangerous. And so many people proceed with their lives, not recognizing the danger of shortcuts. For my parents, I never appreciated how lying hurt them, never understood how my friends would suffer from my split personalities, and my academic partners who exerted their own genuine sweat and tears to pursue their own paths and my callously taking that for granted.

Shortcuts seem at the moment to save time, to make your life a bit easier, but it is the shortcuts that disable you from finishing the race honorably. Lies are ropes tied around your ankles, preventing you slowly from real growth. The quote above mentions not having to wake up in the morning and decide who you are going to be. Think about the time and energy wasted spent circling over in your mind how to avoid being revealed. Instead, be real. Be honest.

One difficult aspect about living a life of dishonesty is the moment you gain a conscious and become aware of how you live a masked existence, you are truly unable for a period of time to let it go. You punish yourself (I surely did) and you cling to the broken past. You spend days trying to scoop up the pieces and form some kind of justification. But it doesn't even deserve that, because that is where it is: in the past. And it will stay there. So let it be part of who you were, not part of who you are.

So the lesson for today: be honest with yourself and those around you. Don't wake up each morning wondering how you are going to work the system. Be real and true to your instinct. And always...tell the whole truth. Oh and when you want it...just go for the Breyers.