Relationship Precedes Truth

I once knew someone who was a master at dispensing little tidbits of Spiritual truth, gold nuggets of wisdom, or annoying bumper sticker-isms. I will say, however, that his wife was even better at it then he was. Pearls of Wisdom would flow from her mouth like a chocolate waterfall at the Willy Wonka Factory. I was recently reminded of one of “Mr. Gold Nugget’s” favorites; Relationship precedes Truth.

I get that - relationship precedes truth. If you have a really good friend and someone comes to you and tells you your friend has done something questionable, your experience with that person - your relationship – will help you decide whether to accept or reject what you’ve heard about them. If you know someone who has never been anything other than open and honest with you, then you will most likely have trouble believing that person is capable of lying or manipulating you – or anyone else. If you hear some gossip about someone you are close to, you will dig deep into your memory bank, withdraw from the vast wealth of deposits you each have made into your relationship, and you will either accept or deny the validity of the gossip. We’ve all known people who exaggerate and stretch the truth, so it’s easy to take what they say with a small grain of salt because we know them - Relationship Precedes Truth.

Well, I got to thinking, what would supercede truth? What blinds us to truth? It seems to me that the list is so long that all relationships are in danger of being broken. No matter how valid or important a relationship is or has been, it can be shattered when truth is crushed by greed, sexual desire, jealousy, blind ambition, insecurities, or any number of the myriad of human traits that cause us problems!

I have trusted what I thought was truth in a number of broken relationships. I hung on for a very long time to the fact that the love I had known was “truth” and could not be broken. But, the fact is, truth can be crushed. Why do we allow it? Because humans are faulty? That's a cop-out. Again, why do we allow it?

Sometimes People Are Just Mean

Some people have jobs where they are required to be mean to people - cops, administrators, bill collectors. I understand this, I accept this, and I acknowledge that it is sometimes necessary to draw a line in the sand and say, "that's the way it is"...period!

An excruciatingly painful thing happened to my daughter (and thus the whole family) six years ago. I just got off the phone with a very cold and heartless woman who brought every ounce of pain back to the surface. I am a completely innocent party who was just trying to get through my life one day at a time and suddenly I'm faced with having to deal with something that I thought was done six years ago! And sadly, the "human being" on the other end of the phone read the lines of her script beautifully and with just the right mix of loathing and disdain.

Maybe it is the job that has made people mean. Maybe some people are just mean!