Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Being Righteous or Being Truthful
If I were given a choice of being Righteous or being Truthful, I would choose to be Righteous. And if you are about to argue that being righteous in itself dictates that one has to be truthful... Think again.
Very simply put, if I am walking down a lonely lane and find a girl hiding from some goons after her, should I tell the goons the truth that I indeed saw the girl hiding? Definetly not. It wont be right to tell the truth now, would it?
At the end of the day, what really matters is that I can go to sleep confident that I did the right things under the given circumstances. And unfortunately, being truthful does not help me in anyway. But it is not that simple either because many times the right thing depends on ones ability to understand the truth. What if the girl I saw was a thief who had stolen something from the goons? Would it still be right to hide the truth?
The trueness of something is always a combination of facts perceived by someone under certain circumstances. Change any of the above and you'll have different versions, albeit true !! But what pains me is to see people not understanding how their past experiences skew up the facts and circumstances so much as to present them with an entirely different truth!! Then... I question if they are capable of doing the right thing.
Ezekiel - Chapter 25 Verses 16-25
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children.
Very simply put, if I am walking down a lonely lane and find a girl hiding from some goons after her, should I tell the goons the truth that I indeed saw the girl hiding? Definetly not. It wont be right to tell the truth now, would it?
At the end of the day, what really matters is that I can go to sleep confident that I did the right things under the given circumstances. And unfortunately, being truthful does not help me in anyway. But it is not that simple either because many times the right thing depends on ones ability to understand the truth. What if the girl I saw was a thief who had stolen something from the goons? Would it still be right to hide the truth?
The trueness of something is always a combination of facts perceived by someone under certain circumstances. Change any of the above and you'll have different versions, albeit true !! But what pains me is to see people not understanding how their past experiences skew up the facts and circumstances so much as to present them with an entirely different truth!! Then... I question if they are capable of doing the right thing.
Ezekiel - Chapter 25 Verses 16-25
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish, and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children.
Being truthful is very easy because you dont concern yourself with the impact and after-effects of delivering the truth. But being Righteous... its a whole different story.
