You can’t handle the truth!
#WordOfTheWeek
The beginning of weekly words of wisdom posts by Jeff C. whitaker
The Bible has been here for God knows how long — pun intended —but I spend money on the newest compilations of incomplete self-help books year after year with little to no change. We live in times where fat and slut shaming are bad things, while our healthy accountability partners suffer at the gym alone and have fewer plans after work and on weekends than ever because they can’t be themselves anymore. I know more people with financial coaches than accountants, who listen to “gurus” but spend above their means every billing cycle. We’ve convinced ourselves that our parents need forgiveness before appreciation and apologies for thinking we know better after a few years of semi-successful life, and we cut anyone off who does not serve us. Personal growth is opinionated without valid controls or comparisons for growth versus regressions because we all live in curated echo chambers instead of natural friend groups of people who genuinely know us. The idea of fun and adventure is Pinterest-inspired, TikTok and Instagram-motivated, and Tweeted for good measure and affirmation.
Yet, no individual born in the last 100 years has the secrets to happiness, nor is happiness always the sole secret to success. God forbid we all confidently walk a few miles a week or find confidence in ourselves without sex. What would modern society look like if we all sat down and discussed the value of each of our purchases as a community instead of the ever-increasing secret spending habits we have become accustomed to by shopping online for everything from clothes to sexual partners, medications and drugs, and everything outside and between?
What would our parents say if we randomly forgave them to their faces?
How would you respond if your kids started forgiving you tomorrow for not knowing Dad would leave or if Mom had so many videos of herself online?
If the people I cut off had access to me and my new group of friends today, I’d undoubtedly wonder what they would say because some of my good and bad moments are not the first things I introduce myself to these days. Some of those people probably have much better and more relevant advice for me than the groups I associate with now. Sure, some might be useless or out of touch, but so are aspects of almost all advice people have for us.
I know for sure there are jokes I tell that my current friends will never get and stories I begrudgingly tell again to establish a connection, though I’d rather not. Fun and adventure, even when spontaneous, do not feel the same as they used to.
Maybe I’m just describing maturity and growing up, hence the term “growing pains,” but something tells me it has to do with the overcomplication of the truth. We can’t just tell people honestly, I don’t like you anymore because of traumas, insecurities, and the like. I was on a date, and a woman calmly told me that honesty is not the same as vulnerability in the context of love — which I fully understood her take, but if you have shades of truth from “honesty” to “vulnerability” with outliers and means that you also must accept shades of “dishonesty” in its many forms with your loved ones, which is not so much love to me as it is distant companionship. As I look to mature into next week, I have to progress past the last, so I leave this thought for you and myself: “What is the value of truth, and when is being right, wrong;” or better said, “Is there a bad time to be correct?”
Please leave a comment with your thoughts or share it with someone you know who thinks they’re right more than they are wrong, like me; maybe we can argue the truth together. (Read any of my other stories for more biblical thoughts. This post is a genuine thought.) Clap if you find yourself meditating on something different and want more thoughts like this. Subscribe to receive weekly thoughts directly to your email and any other ideas I may have in the theology and self-development realm. Buymeacoffee to show extra love!
