Truth is a powerful entity.
Some wield it like a weapon, others like a tool, and as much as we want to believe there is an objectivity and rigidity to truth, it is a lot more elastic than we care to admit. Though two people experience the same event, the truth of that encounter will vary based on myriad circumstances, making it impossible to have one defining conclusion.
The short story, A Temporary Matter by Jhumpa Lahiri examines the role of truth in a marriage that has been challenged. Whose truth is more valid or accurate? How can the truth be used to help or harm?
What does the truth reveal?
Shukumar and his wife Shoba have been informed of electrical work in their Boston neighborhood which will cut the power each evening at 8:00 PM. The young couple has recently suffered the loss of a baby and this departure from their schedule has the potential to heal them. They eat by candlelight and Shoba suggests they each tell the other something they’ve never told before. A truth to share. A confession, perhaps.
Shukumar ponders: “What didn’t they know about each other? He knew she curled her fingers tightly when she slept, that her body twitched during bad dreams. He knew it was honeydew she favored over cantaloupe.” The intimacy of living with someone for years leaves little room for surprises.
What they reveal to each other over the course of five days weaves individual truths into a revelation for the larger truth of their union. The authenticity of their painful situation is both validated and exposed. What the truth reveals to each of them and to them as a couple will impact them going forward once the lights come back on.
Emily Dickinson advises “The Truth must dazzle gradually or every man be blind.” We can handle little doses of the truth, but collectively, it can be overwhelming.
Honesty from This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women
The essay Honesty is a personal reflection on the power of being truthful. Leigh see herself as a straight-shooter who doesn’t back down from the truth. She brandishes the truisms “the truth hurts” and “the truth will set you free” as support for her philosophy. We’ve all been on both sides of those sayings and can speak to the experiences they create, some painful and some liberating. But we have to let circumstance and relationship dictate the approach. Again, Emily Dickinson cautions “Tell all the truth but tell it slant – success in circuit lies.”
What the truth reveals gives us options – in our reactions, in our responses, and in our reality.
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