By Carol Harper
Not AI-generated!
Happy New Year, everyone! You know what is really cool? Last year, around this time, I prayed and believed that 2025, despite all the challenges I was facing, was going to be a good year, a better year. And you know what? It was!
Looking back on that little chunk of time in the grand scheme of things, I've tried to focus most on the continued blessings and gifts in my life that have spurred me onward. I have hot coffee in my mug, delicious food to taste, and music to listen to. I have shelter and warmth. I have a job. I have a car to drive, and I can drive because I can see! I can walk! I have fingers to type this blog. I have friends who love and encourage me. I am so very blessed.
I don't list these things pridefully, but very humbly, as I have learned that any of these things can be taken away at a moment's notice. So I never take these things for granted.
History and the Truth
In looking back at just one year, my thoughts drift to the timeline of human history, which is marked by numerous undeniable events. So many wars, battles, and conflicts. Events that brought out the worst in the human race...the Mongol Invasions, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, Holodomor, Rwandan Genocide, the Salem Witch Trials, the Trail of Tears and the colonization of America, 9/11. Massacres and shootings in public places such as schools, department stores, hotels, theaters, and social clubs. (Not trying to be a downer, but I do try to keep the feet on my good and bad legs grounded in reality.)
Some truths can only be revealed over the passage of time; many times, it can be too late to do anything about. Truths about what is happening to our earth, our landscapes, our oceans, our communities. The effects of the ages of industry and technology...the garbage, the toxins and poisons we ingest. The effects of what has been taught and is passed down to our children, such as insults, rudeness, bullying, assault, and abuse. I often wonder when and if all these things can ever be corrected for a more hopeful future.
Input, output. One can attempt to twist truths and rewrite history, and many have tried. But no one can deny the events derived over the passage of Time.
"I was educated once. It took me years to get over it."
Mark Twain
'The Soup': Discovering the Truth
Attempting to find the truth can be very difficult because you first have to swim through what isn't true to find out what is. It's a daunting pool of muck because there are mounds of cover-ups, narratives, and cleverly crafted media posts and releases that can be very, very persuasive.
Back in the day, the only institutions we had were schools and libraries (Remember the Dewey Decimal System?) Then came the rise of the internet and social media (Google, Facebook). Now it is AI (OpenAI, ChatGBP, Grok).
I believe that any tool can be used for good or evil. When I was a stringer for County 10, we would hold frequent huddles about the stories we were covering. The thing I admire about County 10 is that they are careful about being factual. When I worked for the Ledger Dispatch, my editor drilled into my head: "Quotes and photos." I had some leeway when I was the copy editor/writer for the Gold Country Times, which focused on the good, wholesome things that happened in the communities of California's gold country.
However, the problem with most media is that they need to fiscally survive; thus enters the world of marketing and advertising. If you want the content amplified beyond certain fences and demographics, you have to pay for it. Facts can be manipulated and twisted to fit any agenda. So whether the ad content is true or not...if you've got the money, you've got your bullhorn. But who really pays attention to the man behind the curtain?
Now, Facebook and thousands of social media apps are "free". What does that mean in the journey towards finding the truth? Unfortunately, it sets us back at a great rate, adding layers upon layers of misinformation, gray areas, lies of omission, and "plausible deniability" that appeals to and polarizes us towards agendas, products, and services that we may think make sense or feel good. But if one is being programmed to believe lies, what good is the truth? (Matthew 7)
In a world of fallible and infallible data, yes...even AI can compromise the search for truth. Even AI has a "man behind the curtain". But as I said before, Time has a way of revealing infallible truths. I suppose that's why so many read law enforcement arrest pages and obituary pages. Unfortunately, suffering and death are facts for us all.
But fortunately, so are Light, Life, and Love!
Approaching the Truth
The Truth can put you into shock and shatter your whole world. For some, it's hitting rock bottom. For others, there can be a period of defensive reactions and denial. And sometimes, Truth isn't revealed until the deathbed, when one finally realizes the costs of living a lie, and the ripple effects and division it caused in the lives of their family, friends, loved ones, their community, and the world they are leaving.
There were many times in my life when I feared the truths about what I was doing to my mind, body, and soul. About what I was inadvertently teaching my children about unhealthy relationships and depression. Coming to grips with the truth wasn't easy, especially when my consistent response was pretense: "I'm fine, everything's fine." How many times did I say that when things weren't fine?
There were some Nouns that I've ultimately had to "let go and let God". When I see the sufferings and injustices, it is very, very difficult for me to just sit back and watch them continue. Even though I myself have also been a target of gossip and lies, it gives me a strange comfort knowing there are both seen and unseen powers at play which are way beyond anyone's limited vision and ability to control...but not beyond the power of Who is in control of the Timeline.
However, for me nowadays...the sooner I can know the truth, the sooner I can deal with the effects and damage that lies have made, and somehow attempt to stop the ripple effects caused by them. That is why I always say: "If you want to know the truth about your community, ask a first responder." They know the causes and effects of crime, violence, alcohol, drugs and substances, depression, abuse, and assault. They see the social and political division that leads to homicide and suicide. They see the results of accidents, suffering, and neglect. I think that is what our local, state, and federal leaders struggle with the most. Because of the threads of Truth in history's timeline, there are just some absolutes that you simply cannot avoid, cover up, or plausibly deny.
"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life,
And few there be that find it."
Matthew 7:14
The Truth Is Out There
I've been binge-watching "The X Files" lately. It's been a loooong time since I've watched that series, and it was one of my favorites (besides all the Star Treks, lol). There are episodes that I don't remember, so it's been fun to watch over again. I've always loved the boldness of the character Agent Fox Mulder; many think he's crazy, but I love that he doesn't care. Despite those who try to silence him, he forges onward in his search for truth.
I jokingly tell folks that I'm probably the most extroverted introvert they'll ever know! This year I'll be 60 years old (in September), and I've gained a bit of knowledge, experience, and wisdom throughout my blip-of-a-timeline thus far. I think of the people I put my trust in and have been burned in the end. I think about the wolves in sheep's clothing whose message I bought hook, line, and sinker. The foods and substances that altered my mind from thinking clearly. The cleverly marketed items and unproductive activities I wasted my time and money on.
But were they wasted? No. Not if I learned the lessons. I could live in an entire world of regret, but the truth is...I don't live in that world anymore.
"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and in Truth."
(John 4:23-24)
Back to history's timeline...the Bible is the one book that has made it through all of the atrocities of this world, and the Word lives on to breathe the Truth right in our faces. The effects of conflict and war, disobedience, political division...examples of lies, and lies disguised as truth. The Bible gives us prophetic warnings against appearances of truth, which is hypocrisy. On top of all that, there are so many who have twisted the Word to fit their own views, justify their own actions and agendas, for their own followers and gain.
Whew! How can something called "The Good Book" be so chock-full of trauma and drama? Because the Truth is the truth, whether you believe it or not, whether you like it or not. And the Truth can hurt! It cuts to the heart and soul (Matthew 10:34). There's no escaping it; you can run, but you cannot hide.
Call me crazy, but believing in a Higher Power that loved the world so much to produce an infallible Word in an extra fallible world through extra fallible men is what I call an extraordinary and extra-terrestrial miracle like none other. I recommend that you not skip episodes, because you'll get it all...love, hate, war, peace, rise and fall of empires, politics, gossip rings, slavery, famine, abundance, life, death, miracles, angels, demons, etc.
And get this...it's all FREE! No subscription required.
Light, Life, Love, and Truth to all this brand New Year!
Carol
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Worth the read:
Matthew, chapters 5, 6 & 7
Ephesians 6. (Actually, whatever...read the whole book, lol)
Revelation 2
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