An Unfortunate Truth

Truth. That’s why you came here, isn’t it? The hope that I could maybe provide any valid rationalization of what is, and if that truth could possibly ease the restless recesses of your mind. Well, the unfortunate truth is, you can’t handle the truth.

Withholding truth has funded the workings of society since our predecessors erected a foundation high enough to hide them. Ironically the truth has become buried under a heap of lies and the world has become rank with it. Whether it be the Illuminati, Area 51, Donald Trump's hairline, or if your man is out there f*cking your friend Jessica. No one knows for sure except John, Jessica, God, and maybe a handful others. The question being, if you’re better off knowing the truth or not. I recall a time where a good portion of my childhood life, I had a nanny named Nora. Nora cared for, spoon fed, and outfitted me all whilst holding my hand through most of my childhood. One day I was taking a bath outside because the Philippine climate is temperate and comforting to my sensitive pinoy body. Usually my nanny would spray me down with a hose then give me a towel and my clothes, but this time Nora had done something very strange. She had a certain look in her eyes that I’d only seen in soap operas then she asked me if I’ve ever been in love. She then moved closer to gently grab me by my front tail and told me to touch her chesticles dazing me in the heat of it all. At first, it struck me as confusing and made me uncomfortable because I didn't know what to do. I asked her why she was doing this and she told me it was because she loved me and that this is what people did when they loved each other. That feeling of uncertainty quickly faded renewed with warmth and ease. She told me not to tell my parents or anyone about this because they wouldn't understand and they would tear us apart. But I knew that my parents loved me, they would want me to be happy and have whats best for me. So I told them what happened because I was happy and I wanted them to feel the same. But this happiness was quickly met with anger. They quickly fired Nora and baffled me into a fit of rage. They told me that she was a terrible woman who took advantage of me. But they lied, she took advantage of me true and she likely had a couple screws loose, but she wasn't terrible, she loved me, she made certain truths aware to me, that an 8-year-old being with a 25-year-old is basically rape. But my parents just didn’t understand, or maybe I didn’t understand, nevertheless no one can know for sure because I never got to date the b*tch.

You may be struggling to find the point in this; we lie to our children because we want to help them make sense of their circumstances, to make assurances out of their anxieties and to shield them of certain truths which can become damaging to their perception of reality, to their character. But children grow up quickly, and they get themselves in trouble more often than not. As we grow, we come to know a lot about ourselves, the world around us and our place within it. Naturally, we tend to gravitate towards a safe and stable place using what we know to protect ourselves and the ones we love, but often it becomes the things that we don't know that hurt us and everyone else. That is why it is critical to one's existence that they be well-equipped with the knowledge to deal with the arduous tasks of this infinitely terrifying and magnificent world, so that we might understand and calmly meet adversity with a level head.

But too many lack the knowledge and understanding finding themselves seduced by their vanity, and greed embracing fallacy and injustice. So many found it easy to give into their hate because it drowned their joy what little they had. And so many have dedicated their joy and lives to truth and justice, who in the face of tyranny have been laid in vain, buried under lies. All in the hope that uncovering the truth would inform the people to do the right thing, to act in the face of injustice to not only know right from wrong but to know better. But the fact of the matter is grim, injustice is perpetrated by people, by the uninformed, uncritical, uncertain, scared sh*tless masses who vastly outnumber everyone else. The world as they vaguely understand it would prefer the glamorized truth, seduced by power and using such to bury the wrong done. Fear drives their motives, fear of losing everything they have built, fear that if that if certain truths would come to light it could destroy what they have built, this lies have become a campaigning tool, disinforming the masses and corrupting their understanding.

People are a reflection of their experiences and their understanding of the world around them but lies have permeated public conscious, false media, massive campaigns of disinformation, fraud figureheads corrupt public eye; manifesting itself in vanity, jealousy, uncertainty, racial tension, war, fake presidents, etc. People segregate themselves from each other through fear, from the things that they don’t understand.

But who can blame them?

Humankind has wandered this planet for over a millennia as nomadic tribes, groups of people who all had a part to play, working towards a common goal, together to live and thrive. Fearing what it is we didn’t know because it could kill us. Until we became strong enough not to fear, strong enough to subjugate others and to abuse power by taking power away. We profited off the work and livelihood of others thus oppression became a business that fueled civilizations, literally building the foundations of society even now still. We subjugated each other until we found others to subjugate so we didn’t feel as bad, society has become a king of the hill power grab. Those who see the world in this way look at society through a polarizing lens of socioeconomic success, channeling their passion and their finesse to whatever it takes to take what they want at any and whoever's expense. Our humanity has been diminished, we no longer work together towards a common goal. Our vision has become blurred, shortsighted and we have become blind to all else that disinterests us, all but that glimmer of gold, that pretty little thing we cant see past.

This vision of the “American” dream is destroying society and the planet in tandem. The people have elected to think short-term, ignoring the long-term problems coming to rise choosing to create solutions to our own problem ignoring real issues, all for digits on a pay stub. We've elected to block the river of problems and the dam of lies is nearing a critical point, whether it be the looming crisis of global warming or political corruption, economic inequality, or an annoying, orange man destroying the planet. The world as we know it runs on lies, driving business deals, even relationships, entire countries; the veil of lies had made it impossible to discern the real from the fake. But such is the unfortunate truth; greed and fear have corrupted the very foundations of society, not just crime, not just racism—a power move to tip the balance of American economy. Economic inequality has forced many of us to do things we might feel conflicted about, things that may have hurt others, even ourselves. It’s clear that we need change.

But how could we remedy such a globally flawed system?

We no longer see each other as people but as numbers on a spreadsheet, bullet points in the back of our minds telling us what these people have to offer, whether it be good advice, a good laugh, socioeconomic advancement, a good wing-man to help me f*ck bitches, a bitch I can f*ck, or a woman that I can call my wife, you get the gist. Do you really? Because the gist is, that people should help each other not for what they have, but because they’re people, dealing with their own shit, their own problems. We are the lot of us strong, troubled, and magnificent in our own way. But many of us become prideful and egotistical, many go through life with the predisposition that we are deserved of anything in his world. But no one is worth sh*t, we are the worth we make of ourselves and privilege has done nothing but weaken our human spirit and primal instinct to hunt and get what is ours. So often we operate under the wrong truths if not only the partial truth, and so many make themselves into nothing and many others make themselves out of nothing. But so many more are plagued with the lies and cling onto superficial because they either are oblivious or terrified of the truth.

We are a projection of the understandings that inform us, the volatile fervent emotions and passions that bring colour into our lives, the remarkable, brilliantly stupid things we do. I this beautifully cruel and infinite world we find ourselves in a struggle to make sense of it all, to find the right thing to do, to find the truth. But the truth of the world is terrifying, fear and irrational hope might tell us shut our eyes and plug our ears. But what can we do but be the people we are; our hope that our humanity could possibly help things somehow. Because that’s what it means to be a human being of society, to be part of something greater than yourself to be part of a team, to help each other, and work towards a common goal; to live and thrive. I don’t believe there’s much else we can do but try to understand and calmly look forward.

“I don’t understand all the choices that people make, but I understand that life is hard and those choices don’t disqualify you from a life of dignity, happiness and safety.”

-David Chappelle