THE LACK OF TRUTH
Truthfulness has always been an important concern in education. We’ve known it from childhood. Our parents and teacher could «understand» all our pranks, but asked us to be honest. They wanted to make us see that «telling the truth» is very important.
They were right. The truth is one of the pillars upon which is based moral conscience and our living together. Without truth it’s not possible to live with dignity. Without truth it’s not possible to live together justly. The human being feels betrayed in one of our deepest demands.
Today all kinds of outrages and abuses are condemned forcefully, but the lie with which we try to cover up for ourselves isn’t always denounced with the same energy. And yet injustice always feeds on lies. Only by falsifying reality was it possible just a few years ago to carry on a war as unjust as the aggression against Iraq.
It happens often. Groups of power set off multiple mechanisms to form public opinion and bring society to a determined position. But frequently they do it by hiding the truth and disfiguring statistics, so that people end up living with a false vision of reality.
The consequences are serious. When the truth is hidden, there exists the risk that the outlines of «good» and «evil» disappear. Now you can’t distinguish clearly what’s «just» and what’s «unjust». The lie doesn’t let us see the abuses. We’re like «blind people» who try to lead other «blind people».
In the face of so much interested falsities, there are always people who have clear sight and see the reality as it is. They are the ones who are attentive to the suffering of the innocent. They put truth in the middle of so much lying. They put light in the middle of so much darkness.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
