In law school, I learned that gathering and presenting evidence in a trial depended on its relevance in regard to the truth of  the matter at hand.  Over and over again we were forced to ask ourselves if a certain piece of information or testimony of a witness was relevant in finding the truth.  I wish those same rules applied to how we regard truth in our daily lives.  I’ve had less tolerance that I normally do (which is never much) for people who state things as fact, when they have entirely no idea what they’re talking about.  Most often it is because they get their information second and third hand from an unreliable source to begin with.  Hearsay isn’t tolerated in a courtroom because it is so weighted down with prejudice.  Not so in the outside world.  People believe the damnedest things.  I’ve begun to wonder if people actually want to understand the truth of any particular matter, or like in Plato’s cave, it is just too easy to believe in the illusion that shadows bring.  Putting stock in falsehood never works…the truth always comes out eventually.  Sure, there is fall out from refusing to open your eyes and see things as they really are, but the universal evolutionary spiral still climbs upward because the light of truth will always pierce the darkness and show us the way.  I sigh when I say that because so much bullshit does weigh heavy on one’s soul.  The truth is so much easier to bear, especially when you it becomes a regular practice.  Consequences should naturally follow one’s actions.  I try to explain that to my boys, that the truth is effortless when you see it as the only option.  In the moment when you lie to avoid the consequences of an action, you multiply, exponentially, the trouble and effort of keeping that falsehood alive.  Sadly, it hardly ever works…and I would have hoped by now they would get that, but youth can be foolish at times, even when they get caught red-handed.  And lessons that follow?  They come harshly and swiftly.