To me, the pursuit for truth is not a frivolous or meaningless one. It is not one to be taken lightly. Rather, it is a worthwhile pursuit, which, when undertaken with objectivity and with great ardor and determination, has potentially boundless rewards. Prior to revealing the unvarnished truth, one has to ask oneself if the potential reward is worth risking any possible negative consequences. Some people believe that when performing such a cost-benefit analysis, if the cost is greater than the potential reward, the truth should remain silent—festering, stewing, steaming internally, yet completely and utterly silent externally. I happen to believe that at certain times in one’s life, revealing the truth is an imperative, even with consideration to possible negative consequences.
I recently have found myself a situation where I took it upon myself to reveal the truth to someone who I believe completely deserved and needed to know it. The purpose was two-fold: one, so this person would know what is actually going on; and two, so that this person would discontinue his attacks on my husband and our family. Yet, the truth was not well-received, neither by the recipient nor by those surrounding him. I have incurred wrath, abuse, discrimination, libel and slander as a result of telling the truth. It appears I even damaged an already-tenuous relationship with the direct recipient of this truth. From those that care about me and agree that somehow or another, the truth had to come out at some point, I am hearing things such as , “know your audience”, and “you didn’t have to be so harsh”, and “you should have waited”, and “you didn’t win any points” with the recipient. While I admit that I could have used slightly modified phraseology for one or two of my main points, the gist of the revelation still remains. I disagree that it could have waited and I disagree that I did not know my audience. I felt it was necessary and immediately so, mainly because of the entitlement and vehemence with which the recipient attacked my family. I do not believe that the simple act of revealing the truth deserves such wrath, castigation, derision and invective. I will not apologize for telling the truth or for defending my family against abusers. I shall simply suffer the consequences of my revelation, with the knowledge, comfort and tranquility that I have taken what I believe to be the correct and just action. I will never rest in my ever-present pursuit of truth and justice!
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