THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER

     The truth. Actual facts. What really happened. But is it as simple as that? Do our eyes record the same things at the same event? Do our minds actually interpret and determine what we see or what we think we see? How do we know what the truth is?
     Truth to tell, in today's times who the hell knows what the truth is? Who woulda thunk that we would have an inveterate liar as president? Who would have believed that truth as a value has seemingly gone by the boards no matter how one interprets reality.
     The truth is, that the truth can only be realized and accepted when most agree on it - but even then, there are problems. The truth of the matter was when two feuding children had to agree on a single version of what happened, put it in writing, sign it and hand it over to me. The truth of the matter is that the truth will always out, no matter the efforts put forth to deny it, to hide it - and even then, the accepted 'truth' is not always truth, but is instead a warped version of it, bent and broken till it fits the chosen reality. The truth is - truth is difficult to winnow out from the chaff of life, but we must winnow for if not, all will be lost.
     "Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."  (John 8:32)
     Or in the words I always use - the truth will out. So what are some of the truths we are trying to ignore? What are the truths of today, the plain, unvarnished truths, the ugly truths in some cases.
     Angela Merkel warns her country and the world that there are "dark forces" on the rise and Europe must guard against this."There is to this day not a single Synagogue not a single daycare center for Jewish children, not a single school for Jewish children that does not need to be guarded by German policemen," she added.  She is understating the issue a tad, for it is not only in Europe but in Asia and right here in the good old USA. Once again the ugliness of vicious and viral anti Semitism is with us. Once again old canards of outdated histories are being bandied about as truths. Once again Jews are being warned to hide their identity as Jews. Study after study, poll after poll, confirms this as the truth. But to some people the truth appears to be that Jews are menaces, no matter what. The right is vicious; the left wraps a thinly disguised veil around their anti Semitism by calling it anti Zionsim, feelings for the poor Palestinians who are so oppressed. Really? The truth is that Palestinians are going to universities in Israel by the droves. The truth is that Arabs are heads of departments in hospitals, dispense medicines as pharmacists, buy cars, build beautiful homes, and go through checkpoints with ease if they comport themselves as people waiting on security lines as people do all over the world. He who makes a fuss - well, no matter who it is, is asking for trouble. The truth is that Jews do not control the media nor the banking industry nor any industry in particular or anything else. Hell, they do not even control their own synagogue as the members love to argue and chew over everything!
     But that matters not as we know. Yesterday the NYTimes had a large editorial discussing and deploring the rise of anti Semitism, the dangers. Coming from the Times which has a tad of difficulty writing on Israel, one knows it is the truth!
     But the truth is, that hatred is spreading all over the world, from one tribe to another, from one sect to another, from one family to another, all of us forgetting that we all belong to the family of man. It appears to be that the Tower of Babel and its fall did not only separate us by language, but also by a seeming difficulty to interpret languages so as to mesh humanity rather than introduce differences, differences that are not the truth, yet appear to be so.
     Trump and Co. lie through their teeth, distorting truth and reality to make it fit their own version of 'truth'. They change it on a daily,if not hourly basis. And they could care less about what people  think. They brazenly post that they "don't give a s**t' what people think about their violations of truth and law. So what do we do, folks? How do we handle this, for if we do not, if G-d forbid Trump should pull out another illegitimate win, we are doomed. As the saying goes, we will have burned our bridges and man cannot walk on a burned bridge. Think about that. Think about the dire necessity to realize the truth and its importance, the role it plays in the history of mankind. Every damned time we ignored truth, or made up a twisted version of it, disaster followed and the consequences ensued and are still with us.
     The truth is: "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." (unknown) And, I might add, it will bite you in the ass, a painful bite at that! The truth is, one cannot hide from the truth forever. It is supposed to be a truth we learn as children, so what the hell went wrong?